Official News page 10

REAL LIFE NEWS: COMET HOLMES VISIBLE TO THE NAKED EYE

by Hazed

On October 24, something very unexpected happened to a comet: it suddenly got a whole lot brighter. Nearly a million times brighter. Comet Holmes, which had previously only been visible by telescope, suddenly became visible to anyone who knew where to look. Use your naked eyes and it's a dot in the sky; with binoculars, you can see the bright disk of light.

Nobody knows what caused Holmes to suddenly brighten up in this way, but it's not the first time it's happened. Back in November 1892, when it was first spotted by amateur astronomer Edwin Homes, it did the same thing, brightening then fading, and then undergoing a second eruption several months after the first.

You can find out more about Comet Holmes - its history, and how to spot it now - here. And here's a great picture of the comet.

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