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