Moon and Comet Holmes Comparison

Provided by: Domenico Licchelli, physicist
Summary authors & editors: Domenico Licchelli

The photo comparison above showing the actual size of the nearly full Moon and Comet Holmes was captured over Gagliano del Capo, Italy, on October 29, 2007. Though Comet Holmes was closest to the Sun in May of 2007, at that time it was much too faint to be seen with the unaided eye. Even though it's now millions of miles further from the Sun than six months ago, it's nearly 10 magnitudes brighter, likely because it exploded. See http://epod.typepad.com/blog/2007/11/comet-holmes-glows-green.htmlyesterday's Earth Science Picture of the Day for more about Comet Holmes.