Forget our recent alert about Comet LONEOS, another comet has exploded (almost literally) into view high in the evening sky!!!

Comet Holmes was incredibly faint all summer but in the small hours of October 24th a Spanish observer noted it had brightened dramatically. It continued to do this all day and ended up between magnitude 2 and 3, which is about as bright as the stars in the famous Plough!

Furthermore this comet is high in the northeast after sunset and climbing higher as the night wears on until well after midnight so it's going to be visible all night long.

To locate Comet Holmes simply find the constellation of Perseus and locate Alpha (its brightest star, also called "Mirfak"). Then look 4 degrees to the lower left of Alpha and you'll see a 'new star' which is in fact the comet! Beginners: locate Perseus using the star map in the centre pages of any recent copy of our magazine ( www.astronomy.ie/sub ) then use the charts below.

Yes that's right, Comet Holmes looks like a star! It does not have a fuzzy head or tail, yet. So it looks like Perseus has a new star! So don't go looking for a "hairy star" ("hairy star" is what the word "comet" means!).

The comet has brightened by a factor of nearly 1 million but it appears to have levelled off now. Curiously, it did this in 1892 also and it took one week for it to fade by a factor of 15. So, if this behaviour is repeated the comet could be visible for many days to the naked eye. But comets are unpredictable!

We don't know if the outburst signifies a break-up of the comet's core or a rich vein of ice suddenly exposed to sunlight. The comet is far from the Sun at 2.4 times Earth's distance from the Sun, and it is over 240 million km from Earth, so this is a major outburst for this comet which orbits the Sun every 7 years. Usually comets are only this bright when closest to the Sun, or the Earth, as with Comet LONEOS which we alerted you to on Oct. 17 (don't completely "Forget" about Comet LONEOS as I said above by the way, I was joking!). The great distance of Comet Holmes means it will not move much against the background stars over the next few days so the guide to finding it, given above, will work all this week.

This is going to be the major story of the year (perhaps as big as Comet Hale-Bopp, the Great Comet of 1997?) so we want you all to tell us when you see the comet and keep us posted of any developments by emailing observe@astronomy.ie

Keith Geary in Co. Cavan sent in the first photo of the comet - click www.astronomy.ie/HolmesKG2.jpg
(See an extreme close-up photo in a big telescope in Italy here http://comete.uai.it:80/comete/17P_071024.jpg )
Note also that this comet is so bright that it can even be webcam'd and the images stacked to reveal any inner detail, an extremely rare opportunity!

I have put a star map online of the comet's location here www.astronomy.ie/holmes1.gif and a close up of its path around Mirfak over the next month at www.astronomy.ie/holmes2.gif

Even bright moonlight and city lights will not spoil the view of this incredible comet so keep sending those emails of sightings every night, and any photos to observe@astronomy.ie

Clear skies!
David Moore, Chairman.