Special comet viewing in Monrovia this Saturday evening

Normally on the third quarter moon weekend, you don't find the Sidewalk Astronomers setting up. There will be no moon in the early evening. But the sky gave us a big surprise late in October. Normally extremely faint, comet 17P/Holmes had an outburst that made it a million times brighter -- bright enough that we can see it from downtown Monrovia without a telescope! Over the past couple of weeks, amateurs and professionals alike have been watching the comet's coma, the glowing cloud of dust that surrounds it, grow in apparent size. It's a fun object to see in a telescope, and we invite you to join us this Saturday evening in Old Town Monrovia to do exactly that. We'll be in our usual spot, at the corner of Myrtle & Lime, from 7:30 'til 9:30 p.m. Because the comet is fairly far to the north in the sky, whereas the moon and planets are usually found to the south, we'll have to move a little up the walk towards the Mark Twain statue to get a clear view without a tree in the way. Right now the weather forecast looks good for Saturday night. I'll send a follow-up note if that changes. More about the comet and links to other pictures can be found on JPL's web site here: <http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/features.cfm?feature=1514> Mojo -- Morris Jones Monrovia, CA http://www.whiteoaks.com Old Town Astronomers http://www.otastro.org