Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Holmes Comet Coma Grows Bigger Than The Sun

Posted by Zonk on from the even-when-it's-out-of-sight-the-sun-shines-night-and-day dept.

coondoggie passed us a NetworkWorld article, as he does, noting that there is now an object in our solar system bigger than Sol. The Holmes comet has a huge coma, with a diameter scientists are now calculating to be larger than our own middle-sized star. "Scientists don't seem to have a guess as to how big it will ultimately become. The Holmes coma's diameter on Nov. 9 was 869,900 miles (1.4 million kilometers), based on measurements by Rachel Stevenson, Jan Kleyna and Pedro Lacerda of the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy. The sun's diameter, stated differently by various sources, is about 864,900 miles (1.392 million kilometers)."

1 of 245 comments (clear)

  1. Correct != pompous by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Our sun's name is "Sol." It is correct to call it by its proper name.

    I don't think it makes the speaker sound pompous at all. Appealing to one's own ethos to strengthen an argument makes someone sound pompous. Quoting the law to justify an opinion about morality makes someone sound pompous. Using the word "Virii" to mean "more than one computer virus" makes a speaker sound pompous, and is also incorrect.

    But simply speaking in a technically precise manner, especially to a science-literate target audience on a techie/geeky website, is not in the least bit pompous.

    I would go so far as to call it "expected."