Comet Holmes loses its tail November 11, 2007
Posted by dorigo in astronomy, news, personal, science.trackback
In the picture below (whose origin is unfortunately unknown to me) you can clearly see the disconnection from the coma of the faint tail that 17P/Holmes had developed last week.
I was amazed to be able of actually seeing the tail from downtown Venice (the terrace atop my apartment) with 25×100 binoculars. But I did not see the disconnection! The tail was quite faint and I could only detect it with averted vision and by moving the field of view around…
Any CMEs passing through the area?
Hi Amara,
I have no idea. I suspect the fragmentation is rather due to the same dynamics that caused the explosion in the first place - at least, it is an economical hypothesis.
Cheers,
T.
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As to Amara’s question about CMEs, according to an itwire.com web article:
“… Blue tail of Comet Holmes breaks off from green nucleus
… By William Atkins Sunday, 11 November 2007
On about November 8-9, 2007, the blue-colored gaseous tail of Comet 17P/Homes broke away from its greenish dense nucleus. Astronomers observed through telescopes with large time exposures what they called a “big disconnection event.” They saw the tail separate from the nucleus (head) of the comet. The astronomers stated that gusts of solar wind from large magnetic storms in the vicinity of the comet most likely caused the disconnect. …”.
The itwire.com article has a link to some images and refers to “Paolo Berardi”, and shows it sitting on top of an earlier (4 Nov 2007) image by Ivan Eder taken near Budapest.
Tony Smith
That is a great photo. I missed it tonight due to weather. I’ve got several observations recorded at http://myquestar.blogspot.com/
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Hi Tony,
thank you for the information, as always you are a very informed source…
Cheers,
T.
Thanks, Tony. Yes, “gusts of solar wind from large magnetic storms ” is either a CME or something similar. Neat! Isn’t the universe a splendid place?
I’m blogging from Jamau/Baja Mexico
[ I'm here for the 40th anniversary of the Baja 1000..many international racers are here like Armin Schwarz from Germany. ]
I’ve been <a href=”photographing Comet Holmes for 2 nights (11/12 & 11/13), & the wildly dynamic ion tail seems to have disappeared. My 8″ f1.5 Schmidt-Camera might have picked up something, but I have to develop the film once I get back home.
There are many Italian-Americans who are racing the Trophy Truck class: Arciero (famous name of Indy 500 fame), Scaroni. You can see videos of them here.
I fouled up the comet photo link in the above post, it’s here
I’m blogging from Anza Borrego (Arroya Salado, in a sand wash) east of San Diego, using my mobile satellite-DSL. I drove back from Baja (Jamau), & stopped here on the way back to Los Angeles.
The comet has lost it’s wildly dynamic ion tail, but its coma has increased noticeably from last week. In 10×50 binoculars, you can see this big fuzzball & discern the nucleus (!). More photos here
Saw a really nice Leonid meteor (mag 1) which left a persistent trail. This is sign of activity for the upcoming Leonid Meteor Shower which peaks in a few days.
Wow, chimpanzee, really an astronomer hitting the road!
Thank you for your reports and your very good pictures. Keep us posted!
Cheers,
T.