I'm a bit ashamed because I just realized that this comet has already been around the Sun and it is heading back out again. Usually a comet will "bloom" so to speak, on the way into the inner system. Gas or ice will boil off to make a tail, and we all have something to talk about for a month or two. Comet 17P Holmes will likely last for another day or two at the current brightness and then it will fade away till next time.
May I ask: what distance (away from the sun) is required so that the dirty snow will boil? And will the snow on its surface melt, before its central snow?
Moreover, what makes such a relatively small rocky object appear so luminous from such far distance?
eanassir
Moreover, what makes such a relatively small rocky object appear so luminous from such far distance?
eanassir