Comet 17P/Holmes and 8P/Tuttle

Over two months after its outburst, Comet Holmes is still visible to the naked eye, slowly moving about the northern sky, slowly growing even larger, and also slowly fading. On the other hand, Comet Tuttle, another periodic comet, is rapidly brightening and speeding by, spending only a few days in this part of the sky.

Click on the photo to see inset enlargements of the comets taken on the same night at higher magnification. Both inset images are at the same scale.