The Hindu : New Delhi News : Time to get starry-eyed…

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Wednesday, Oct 31, 2007
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New Delhi

New Delhi

Time to get starry-eyed…

Madhur Tankha

NEW DELHI: Ever since comet 17P/Holmes had a spectacular outburst this past Thursday during which it grew some 400,000 times in brightness within 24 hours, some amateur astronomers in Delhi have been trying to sight it. Nehru Planetarium will now conduct a public sky-watch at its sprawling lawns in Teen Murti House here on Wednesday to observe the comet.

According to Nehru Planetarium Director N. Rathnasree, state-of-the-art telescopes will be installed at Teen Murti House so that celestial lovers can easily view the comet.

Stating that around 9 p.m., one can view the bright star Capella low in the horizon. Moving vertically up from Capella, one comes to the region of the constellation Perseus, where the comet is located. “Scan the skies in this area and you should be able to locate the fuzzy spherical object that is the comet 17P/Holmes,” said Dr. Rathnasree.

Another interesting fact about this comet is that in 1892 when this comet was first discovered by Edwin Holmes of England, it had a similar outburst and brightening, a few months after its closest passage to the Sun and the Earth, causing great excitement in the comet circles.

“That is the excitement about this event. It is so unpredictable. This particular comet is more unpredictable than other usual comets. It became a faint naked-eye-visible object in 1892, faded away and brightened again the next year. In 1899 and 1906, when it passed close to the Sun, it was observed. Subsequently it was lost to view even during its close passages to the Sun until 1964, when it was observed again. Since then it has been showing predictable behaviour while amateur astronomers with large telescopes have been keeping it under observation,” said the Nehru Planetarium Director.

In general faint comets brighten when they pass close to the Sun in their orbits. Most of the faint comets can therefore be seen only when they appear close to the Sun in the sky. In contrast, the comet 17P/Holmes has brightened when it has moved away from its closest approach to the Sun and Earth a few months ago. “It is now in the North-eastern parts of the sky in the evenings, relatively far from the Sun. The brightening of this comet is some intrinsic outburst from its insides and not arising from a near approach to the Sun. That makes its brightening even more interesting as it tells us something about the nature of this comet,” says Dr. Rathnasree.

However, if the weather is clear and there is no haze in the sky, it would be possible to locate the comet easily.

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