Periodic Comet Holmes (17P/Holmes), a very faint comet far from the sun experienced an outburst and brightened a million times in late October 2007. The comet brightened, expanded, changed color and wowed viewers around the world. For more comet sketches - I just put one comparison here, go to a comet on the sidewalk for four other 6-day-apart sketch comparisons.

Both sketches below were made on Strathmore premium recycled sketch pad sheets, 3.5 x 5 inches in size, with Faber-Castell 9000 Art Set graphites, plus a Faber-Castell Graphite Pure Stylus and some graphite crayons, and a smudge stump.

Comet 17/P Holmes as viewed through an 8-inch homemade dobsonian reflector on 10/30/07 at 06:20 UT. Eyepiece: 17mm Orion Explorer II for 61x magnification. Monrovia, CA. Sky conditions: quite dark for Los Angeles Co.(marine layer over the LA basin, and shielded from street and house lights). Transp.(darkness) 3/6, Seeing (steadiness) 7/10 on Pickering scale, Antoniadi (I-V): II	See how much the comet's size changed by comparing these two sketches, using the same equipment from the same location 6 days apart. Sky conditions: Transp. 2-3/6 pretty good for LA standards, Seeing 6/10 on Pickering scale - some moisture in air, Antoniadi (I-V): II. More sketches start here.

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