Naked Eye Comet!

From the Washington Post:

Glimpse a Comet That Has Grown Mysteriously Bright

By Blaine P. Friedlander Jr.
Special to The Washington Post
Sunday, October 28, 2007; Page C11

An obscure Comet Holmes has gone from practically invisible to naked-eye visibility in an amazing few hours, catching astronomers by surprise and creating a cosmic buzz.

To find Comet Holmes now, look to the north-northeast when the sun sets. Without the classic comet tail, it looks like a yellow marshmallow loitering in the constellation Perseus. This second magnitude comet can be viewed from evening till dawn.

Over the next three weeks, the comet will stay in the constellation Perseus, but its brightness remains conjecture.

Arguably the best comet to view in a decade, it was first discovered by Edwin Holmes in 1892. On Wednesday, the comet went from 17th magnitude to second magnitude -- a million-fold increase in brightness -- in a few hours, according to Sky & Telescope Magazine online.

"Astronomers have no idea why this comet flared up a million-fold so quickly," said Geoff Chester, an astronomer at the U.S. Naval Observatory. This quick brightening was something new, and astronomers will try to understand the comet's mechanics.