Darren Addy
EF5
I don't know if it is making national news yet, but
a comet was just days ago discovered by a couple of Russian
astronomers that appears to have all of the ingredients to be one of
the greatest comets in our lifetimes, and maybe one of the greatest in
human civilization's history.
http://www.astronomynow.com/news/n1209/25comet/
Normally it takes a while after discovery to calculate an accurate
orbit, but this comet was found on pre-discovery sky surveys (where it
was previously overlooked as a comet) and so they have 9 months of
data (over 50 orbital datapoints). What makes it incredible is the
nearness with which it is going to skim past the sun (.012 AU) and
then the nearness with which is flies past the earth (.4 AU). This
comet has the chance of being visible in a broad daylight sky,
brighter than the moon. This will be an incredible object from Nov. to
Jan. in 2013/2014. Currently, this comet is known by the following
designation: C/2012 S1 (ISON)
If you want to hang out with the comet nerds, including at least one
of the discoverers of this comet:
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/comets-ml/
Before this, we were looking forward to another great comet in the
Spring of 2013 (known by the designation C/2011 L4 PANSTARRS ) This
comet alone would be enough to make most comet lovers wet their pants,
as it is expected to flirt with negative visual magnitudes in March
2013: http://www.aerith.net/comet/catalog/2011L4/2011L4.html but it
has now been joined by a very big brother that looks to wildly
overshadow it.
2013 is going to be a once-in-a-lifetime year for comets.
a comet was just days ago discovered by a couple of Russian
astronomers that appears to have all of the ingredients to be one of
the greatest comets in our lifetimes, and maybe one of the greatest in
human civilization's history.
http://www.astronomynow.com/news/n1209/25comet/
Normally it takes a while after discovery to calculate an accurate
orbit, but this comet was found on pre-discovery sky surveys (where it
was previously overlooked as a comet) and so they have 9 months of
data (over 50 orbital datapoints). What makes it incredible is the
nearness with which it is going to skim past the sun (.012 AU) and
then the nearness with which is flies past the earth (.4 AU). This
comet has the chance of being visible in a broad daylight sky,
brighter than the moon. This will be an incredible object from Nov. to
Jan. in 2013/2014. Currently, this comet is known by the following
designation: C/2012 S1 (ISON)
If you want to hang out with the comet nerds, including at least one
of the discoverers of this comet:
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/comets-ml/
Before this, we were looking forward to another great comet in the
Spring of 2013 (known by the designation C/2011 L4 PANSTARRS ) This
comet alone would be enough to make most comet lovers wet their pants,
as it is expected to flirt with negative visual magnitudes in March
2013: http://www.aerith.net/comet/catalog/2011L4/2011L4.html but it
has now been joined by a very big brother that looks to wildly
overshadow it.
2013 is going to be a once-in-a-lifetime year for comets.
