But what’s a Comet, anyway?
By Anton Wylie
Published Sunday 18th November 2007 08:02 GMT
The Web is abuzz about Comet Holmes.
Comet 17P/Holmes had been expected to make just another routine ultra low visibility departure from perihelion passage this year. But in a record for a comet, it unexpectedly brightened by a factor of around a million on October 24, making it more reminiscent of a stellar nova explosion.