Stellarium

[Fairweather]

Cool website for anyone interested in identifying night sky objects from the comfort of home - or during those cold alpine starts. Open source. Been using it for almost a year now - far better than anything I've ever paid for:

 

http://www.stellarium.org/

[catbirdseat]

I heard on the radio that there is a comet that is now visible with just binoculars in the constellation Perseus. It is expected to occlude the brightest star in that constellation at some point.

[Fairweather]

17P/Holmes. I've been watching it for the past month up on the hill behind Pierce College with the Tacoma Astronomical Society. Its coma is now almost as large as the sun and there's quite a buzz as to why it flared up to magnitude 3 last month. Probably a gas pocket breaking out into open space. I guess the tail broke off last night, but I haven't had time to look - and the weather's been shitty anyhow. You can see it with the naked eye in Perseus right now - if its clear enough. It has a period of only 7 years and did the same thing back in the late 1800's I guess. Weird stuff.

[G-spotter]

Ya, the speculation that it has an orbiting satellite that periodically grazes it and causes an explosion was my favourite nutty idea

[Fairweather]

If you're interested, here's another cool website that's fun to check daily:

 

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

 

 

[G-spotter]

When I see Stellarium I think of an Aquarium full of Stella