The sun is the biggest star and object in our solar system – but what would happen if something were to take its place? Comet Holmes started off relatively small when astronomers first started to study it. But after only a few weeks its diameter is larger than that of the sun.
Astronomers explain that the comet has been letting out large amounts of gas and dust – which has expanded the atmosphere and caused it to grow. “It continues to expand and is now the largest single object in the solar system,” according to astronomers at the University of Hawaii.
The coma’s diameter on Nov. 9 was 869,900 miles (1.4 million kilometers), based on measurements by Rachel Stevenson, Jan Kleyna and Pedro Lacerda of the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy. They used observations from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. The sun’s diameter, stated differently by various sources and usually rounded to the nearest 100, is about 864,900 miles (1.392 million kilometers).
Holmes is still visible to the naked eye as a fuzzy star any time after dark, high in the northeastern sky. It is faintly visible from cities, and from dark country locations is truly remarkable. “Right now, in a dark sky it appears as a very noticeable circular cloud,” said Joe Rao, SPACE.com’s Skywatching Columnist. Rao advises looking for the comet this weekend, before the moon becomes more of a factor. The comet will likely diminish in brightness yet remain visible for the next two to three weeks, he said. “Over the next few weeks and months, the coma and tail are expected to expand even more while the comet will fade as the dust disperses,” Stevenson and her colleagues write.
On Monday, Nov. 19, the comet will create a unique skywatching event with its see-through coma. “The comet will glide by the star Mirfak [also called Alpha Persei] and appear to swallow it — a sight not to be missed.” A small telescope will reveal the fuzzy coma. Lacking a long tail characteristic of some great comets, however, Holmes is not the most dramatic object in the sky for casual observers.
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