Scott Catron wrote:

You're right Joe, look - where's the tail?! IT'S COMING STRAIGHT AT US!!

For lurkers, the lack of an apparent tail is probably related to its distance from the Sun (near Mars's orbit) and its orbital geometry relative to the Sun and the Earth. http://gallery.utahastronomy.com/v/kurt/solarsystem/Comet+17P+Holmes/comet17... This comet orbits entirely within the orbit of Jupiter and has about a 24 year period. Right now it is near opposition with respect to Earth but is above the plane of the solar system. But the comet is not exactly spherical. Quantized processing of an image shows it to be slightly elliptical. http://gallery.utahastronomy.com/v/kurt/solarsystem/Comet+17P+Holmes/009.jpg... This could be a spheriod shell that is slightly oval from its orbital motion and the direction of the Sun. Or you could be looking down the "tube" of the comet with the obscured tail behind it.

From an album with my image last night and collected explanatory materials -

http://gallery.utahastronomy.com/v/kurt/solarsystem/Comet+17P+Holmes/ - Kurt _______________________________________________ Sent via CSolutions - http://www.csolutions.net