Comet Lulin Is Moving Closer To Earth

goran72 writes "The comet is swinging around the Sun and approaching the Earth. The photogenic Lulin has a bright tail and an 'anti-tail.' At its closest approach in February, Comet Lulin is expected to brighten to naked-eye visibility, reaching a magnitude of six."

Re:Magnitude of six... what

[d3m0nCr4t]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apparent_magnitude [wikipedia.org]

Re:Magnitude of six... what

[captainpanic]

"Apparent magnitude" is the measure for brightness that astronomers use. Read more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apparent_magnitude [wikipedia.org] The magnitude 6 means (according to wikipedia) it's between the brightness of the faintest stars observable with the naked eye and the planet Uranus. The measure has no SI units like joules, meters or something like that. It's a relative scale.

Re:Magnitude of six... what

[martinw89]

Ahh OK, not being familiar with apparent magnitude I was looking for some sort of unit to search for. Now I see.

For those interested in the brightness of the comet, it will be somewhere between the Uranus (at its brightest) and the faintest stars visible to the naked eye.

Re:Punch anyone?

[gpronger]

Spike it. You'll get more showing up than if it was simply if it visible. And if you spike it strong enough, they'll think that saw it. Where you located, I may show up if you follow my advice?

Greg P

So the difference...

[wren337]

...between "stargazers are in for a treat" and "terrified population faces end of days" is about 0.41 Astronomical Units. Interesting.