Eagles Fan in 'Skins Land

Comet Holmes continues to shine at around magnitude 2.5, or about as bright as the stars in the Big Dipper.  The comet's coma (head) has expanded to about half the size of a full moon, and looks anywhere from greenish to yellowish.  Long exposure photographs have shown that a short and stubby tail has formed, but to the naked eye or binoculars, it doesn't really have the "classic" cometary appearance that we saw with other famous comets like Hale-Bopp or Halley.  There are several factors, the main ones being its distance from the sun (closing in on Jupiter's orbit), and its position relative to both the sun and earth.  Comet tails always point away from the sun, and we're seeing it almost head-on, and it will remain this way for the next few months.

No one's sure how long Holmes will stay bright enough to see unaided inside the Beltway, but we do know that the moon will start to intrude around November 15, on its way to the next full phase on November 24.  With uncertainty in the forecast, it's best to catch the comet now, before the moon washes out the sky.  Keep looking high north/northeast to the lower right of Cassiopeia's "W" in the evening, and in the northwest sky in the early morning hours.

Here's a 15-second exposure from 11/6, which I took in Arlington.  If it were visible, the tail would be pointing to the upper right.