COMET CONUNDRUM

The Monster of the Night Skies

The comet 17P/Holmes has astronomers around the world scratching their heads in confusion. The heavenly body just keeps getting bigger -- and is now twice the diameter of our sun.

Comets, of course, are no rarity. And it seems like every couple of years or so, one becomes big and bright enough that it can easily be seen from Earth. But the behavior of 17P/Holmes has mystified both hobby astronomers and professionals around the globe.

PHOTO GALLERY: GIANT IN THE NIGHT SKIES

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Click on a picture to launch the image gallery (6 Photos)

Rather than shrinking as it gets further from the sun as most comets do, this one just keeps getting bigger and brighter. At the beginning of the week, the cloud of dust and gas surrounding the comet's core -- called the coma -- had already grown larger than the sun. Now, just a few days later, the coma's diameter is twice that of the sun -- the dust cloud measures some 2.7 million kilometers across whereas the sun is just 1.39 million kilometers across. And there is no sign that it is finished.

"The comet is now a long ways away, but the dust cloud is still growing," Dr. Maciej Mikolajewski from the Torun Center for Astronomy at Nicolaus Copernicus University told SPIEGEL ONLINE. "It's the first time I've ever seen such a thing. I've never seen such a bright comet in my life."

Even more interesting than the celestial body's sheer size, however, is that scientists aren't totally sure why it suddenly exploded in brightness throughout October and November. The comet is no longer close enough to the Earth to be readily visible without a telescope, but the head scratching in the scientific community continues.

Mikolajewski, whose institute has been following the path of the comet for more than a month, says that a chemical reaction within the core of 17P/Holmes could be to blame for the explosion in size and brightness. Or, he says, it could have run into an asteroid as it sped through the inner part of the solar system. "Both of those hypotheses are possible," he says.

Frank Brenker, a comet researcher at the University of Frankfurt, likewise thinks that the comet may have run into something. "The impact theory is most plausible," he told SPIEGEL ONLINE. Most comets do gain in size and brightness as they get closer to the sun. But this comet, oddly, doubled in size as it was traveling away from the sun, making it unlikely that the sun was to blame.

The comet 17P/Holmes was discovered in 1892 by the British astronomer Edwin Holmes. That year, the comet was briefly bright enough to be visible with the naked eye before disappearing once again into the nether reaches of the solar system. Every seven years, the four-kilometer wide chunk of ice swings through the center part of the solar system before once again being catapulted back out into space.

Comets often achieve impressive sizes when they are warmed by the sun, and tails can sometimes stretch for thousands of kilometers. "A gigantic comet is nothing all that special," confirms Ulrich Christensen, head of comet and planet research at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research. "But a diameter larger than the sun is certainly unusual."

It could be that researchers never find out exactly what happened to 17P/Holmes. It has been speeding away from the Earth ever since Nov. 7 according to the US space administration NASA. It will be back in 2014.

With reporting by Holger Dambeck and Charles Hawley

Cosmic Time 11.20.07 - What if?

Welcome to Cosmic Time, Allison Rae's astro ezine offering insights into 2012, current cosmic influences and the evolution of consciousness on Earth. Subscriptions are available by donation.

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Comet Holmes

"What if it all means something?"

- Chantal Kreviazuk

Look, up in the sky. It's a star, it's an omen. It's Comet Holmes.

The Holmes Comet erupted out of obscurity in late October, just as Pluto crossed the Galactic Center for the third and final time for another 248 years. Since then, the cloud of space dust surrounding the comet has expanded rapidly, and Comet Holmes, including coma, is now the largest object in our solar system.

Back in 2005, crop formations in Europe predicted this phenomenon, portraying both the explosion and the location within the constellation Perseus where it would occur. Check out the images for yourself at the link below. Whoever or whatever creates crop circles seemed to be saying, more than two years ago, "Pay attention to this."

Comets signify cycles. There's talk that this one could be the "Bluestar Kachina" prophesied by the Hopi of North America that will signal the beginning of the Fifth World, or world age. Maybe. Until we hear from the Hopi, this is conjecture. We do know the end of the Mayan calendar is near, as well as a 26,000-year precessional cycle and a 2,000-year astrological age. Vast cycles are ending and new cycles beginning, pretty much all at once.

So it seems the unexpected explosion of an obscure comet at this particular time, with a foreshadowing in the mysterious language of crop circles, means something. What does it mean to you? Try communing with this celestial being at night. Look for it in the northern sky after sunset, in the constellation Perseus. It's actually visible all night by the unaided eye, although binoculars and telescopes will help bring it into focus. Viewing details are available at the link below.

Throughout 2007, we've experienced an awe-inspiring series of celestial alignments leading up to a showdown of cosmic fireworks in December. Anything is possible as a cosmic beam of Divine Love from the heart center of our galaxy infuses the Earth, focused through the lenses of Pluto, Jupiter, Mercury and the Sun. Stay (at)tuned!

Links

News stories and photos

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20071115/sc_space/incrediblecometbiggerthanthesun

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/09/MNNIT83BG.DTL

http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/faculty/jewitt/holmes.html

Viewing the comet

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/home/10862521.html

Crop formations from 2005 depicting the explosion of Comet Holmes

http://www.cropcircleconnector.com/anasazi/time2007g.html