Comet 17P/ Holmes

This is a short periodic comet (p = 6.5 years) and normally these kind of comets do not tent to be very spectacular, however this one was different. On October 24 its brightness increased a million times in several hours, increasing from the 17th magnitude to magn 2.5. I took a few pictures between the clouds on Nov. 9th as the comet still was very bright (about 2.5 magn). The dramatic increase in brightness was probably cuased by explosive degassing of its core however the exact process causing this is not yest known.

The pictures are all taken with a Canon 350D Digital SLR with a Sigma 18 - 75 Zoom at F = 2.8 (closeup at F=3.5). Exposure time was 15 sec at ISO 800, photo's taken on Nov. 9 at 19h50 MET

The comet (the hazy object left from the middle, just above the cloud) was as bright as a. Persei

Here the comet is the brightest object on the picture

A closeup from the picture above.

A picture taken on Nov. 12th 22h45, exposure 15 s. at 70mm F=4.0. The coma has expanded clearly in comparison to the previous picture. Although the total brighness is slowly decreasing.