Comet Lulin Is Moving Closer To Earth 97
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."
Comet viewing can be incredible... (Score:5, Interesting)
A few of the guys I worked with would venture out on deck at night, usually to sip whiskey or stargaze, or talk about how much we hated the Nav. Anyway, I've seen comets before so when a buddy said 'you should really come outside and see the comet' I was thinking 'meh...'
When I stepped outside, I initially thought the moon was out it was so bright on deck. I look up at the sky and almost fell down (seriously...had to catch myself). The comet was so bright and beautiful it damn near took my breath away. It stretched 3/4 of the way across the visible sky; looking like some kind of cosmic jewel.
I got to see a lot of interesting things while serving, but the comet was a definite highlight.
Re:Comet viewing can be incredible... (Score:3, Interesting)
I'd like to get out to sea someday just to see the sky without light pollution. Your story isn't the first one I've heard that makes me jealous I've never made it. The closest you can come on land is probably the Australian Outback. Every year I've tried to get up to the Adirondacks for the same reason and every time I've made it we've had full cloud cover :(
In my area it's not as bad -- you can actually drive 15 minutes and escape the worst of the city lights -- but it's still not the same as being out in the real boonies or out to sea. I feel real bad for the city dwellers that have never even seen the Milky Way or more than a handful of stars.
Re:Mag 6 is *not* naked eye visible (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:You donÂt say... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Comet viewing can be incredible... (Score:1, Interesting)
I'd like to get out to sea someday just to see the sky without light pollution. Your story isn't the first one I've heard that makes me jealous I've never made it. The closest you can come on land is probably the Australian Outback.
My first trip to the Outback, we were traveling at night. We pulled the car off the road, turned out the lights and got out to look at the sky.
The view was so breathtaking, my legs got a wobbly.
Not only was it massively full of stuff I normally can't see, it was completely alien to my Northern Hemisphere-centric eyes. All of my normal star guideposts were either missing or not where they should've been. Completely disorienting--like being on another planet--but ultimately cool.
If you can afford it, I highly recommend a trip to Oz. The night skies are just one of the many highlights.
Distance- Does Not Compute (Score:3, Interesting)
The comet will pass 0.41 Astronomical Units from earth and reach its closest distance to Earth on February 24, about 14.5 times the distance between the Earth and the Moon.
Given that the average earth-moon distance is 384403 km, 14.5 times this is about 5.57 million km. This translates into about 0.0373 AU, which differs from .41 AU by about a factor of 11. Can anyone explain this discrepancy?
Re:Mag 6 is *not* naked eye visible (Score:4, Interesting)
Having spent the entirety of my childhood in Houston, I always had an interest in astronomy and had a decently mounted catadioptric refractor that I used quite a bit to see/sketch the moon but the city glow makes the entire night sky bright orange. Stars and planets were pretty much off the menu except right after cold fronts in the winter, when I would sit outside for hours with a chart and try to track down all the stars I could find. It was never very many though, but it was exciting.
I went on an extended hiking and camping trip to the White Mountains in Colorado when I was 14 and on a whim decided to lug my scope with me strapped to the bottom of my pack. It was heavy and more of a burden than I thought it would be, but the very first evening we set camp at ~9,000 feet. After a trout dinner and some relaxing, the sun went down and slowly but surely the night sky began to appear. It was as close to a religious experience as I have ever had. I didn't sleep that night even though I had hiked for hours the previous day and was still trying to come to terms with "non-sea-level" atmospheric pressure.
Since then, I have seen the sky from many other vantage points with equally impressive vistas, but I still look back on that trip fondly. It was the first time I felt truly humbled and how insignificant we all are in the universe.
Re:Mag 6 is *not* naked eye visible (Score:3, Interesting)
My lady friend is a moderate Christian and was in her late thirties when I met her. Although she had occasionally been under them she had never looked up at a dark sky, she also belived I could not "know" the feeling of religious awe because...well...I am not religions. When I showed her a dark sky and described our physical place in the milky way she was gob-smacked and she knew that I knew. We were also lucky enough to spot about a dozen leonoids over a few hours.
There were a few dozen people on the beach in 2007 but she is the only person I know in Melbourne who saw McNaught that night. Some of my friends/family saw a much dimmer version about a week later but most people belive it was "another over-hyped dissapointment" (as the OP puts it).