The Holmes comet reached its peak visibility to Earth in these past two weeks, appearing similar in brightness to a star. From late October through early November the comet could be seen in the constellation Perseus, reaching a peak magnitude of 2.8 (really flippin bright) from its previous magnitude over a few hours.
It was first discovered by Edwin Holmes in 1892 when it made a similar pass near the Earth. It follows an inclined elliptical orbit between Mars and Jupiter, which puts it right in the region of the asteroid belt. It's nuclear diameter is estimated at several km. In late october the diameter of its cone increased to about 3.3 arcminutes; during this outburst the diameter of the cone was greater than the diameter of the moon's orbit around Earth.
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