More Comet Oddities: Outbursts, Disruptions and Other Strange Behavior

Abstract

On the evening of November 6, 1892, English amateur astronomer Edwin Holmes was observing the Great Andromeda Galaxy when he noticed a peculiar blob of nebulosity having a similar brightness, close to it. Clearly this was a new comet, but it was strange that such a bright object in so readily accessible a region of the heavens was not reported well before it had become so conspicuous. Holmes’ discovery was quickly followed by a cluster of independent discoveries from all over the world, so the failure to find it earlier was not because nobody was out there looking! (Fig. 4.1).