As I always do when the sky is clear, I ended this previous Friday under the stars with my
astronomy binocular. This weekend I had challenged myself to find some open clusters in Cassiopeia with my
Nikon 10x70 Astroluxe, but, of course, a check on the comet was mandatory. As of Friday night,
Comet 17P/Holmes was still bright and, in my binos, was maintaining a fairly bright central core with a dimmer halo ring. Last night (Sunday), I was amazed to see that the comet had lost brightness, perhaps a full magnitude to my eyes and the core had a distinctly washed out look in the big Nikon
binocular. With this comet, though, who knows what will be next? Comet 17P/Holmes has already taken us on a wild ride. Grab a binocular or a telescope and see this one while you can.