Explanation:
Comet 17P/Holmes
stunned comet watchers
across planet Earth earlier this week.
On October 24, it increased in brightness over half a million
times in a matter of hours.
The outburst transformed it from an obscure and faint
comet quietly orbiting the Sun with a period of about 7
years to a naked-eye comet
rivaling the brighter stars in the
constellation Perseus.
Recorded on that date,
this view
from Tehran, Iran highlights
the comet's (enhanced and circled)
dramatic new visibility in urban skies.
The inset (left) is
a telescopic image
from a backyard in Buffalo, New York showing the
comet's greatly expanded
coma,
but apparent lack of a tail.
Holmes' outburst
could be due to a sudden exposure of
fresh cometary ice or even the breakup of the
comet nucleus.
The comet may well remain bright in the coming days.
