Click for larger!Go outside tonight! Find the constellation Leo, and the planet Saturn!
Telescope is nice, but the best aid is a good pair of binoculars.
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NASA / National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(USA space agency)
Wednesday 4 February 2009
"Green Comet Approaches Earth"
In 1996, a 7-year-old boy in China bent over the eyepiece of a small telescope and saw something that would change his life--a comet of flamboyant beauty, bright and puffy with an active tail. At first he thought he himself had discovered it, but no, he learned, two men named "Hale" and "Bopp" had beat him to it. Mastering his disappointment, young Quanzhi Ye resolved to find his own comet one day.
And one day, he did.
Fast forward to a summer afternoon in July 2007. Ye, now 19 years old and a student of meteorology at China's Sun Yat-sen University, bent over his desk to stare at a black-and-white star field. The photo was taken nights before by Taiwanese astronomer Chi Sheng Lin on "sky patrol" at the Lulin Observatory. Ye's finger moved from point to point--and stopped. One of the stars was not a star, it was a comet, and this time Ye saw it first.
Comet Lulin, named after the observatory in Taiwan where the discovery-photo was taken, is now approaching Earth. "It is a green beauty that could become visible to the naked eye any day now," says Ye.
The comet makes its closest approach to Earth (0.41 AU) on Feb. 24, 2009. Current estimates peg the maximum brightness at 4th or 5th magnitude, which means dark country skies would be required to see it. No one can say for sure, however, because this appears to be Lulin's first visit to the inner solar system and its first exposure to intense sunlight. Surprises are possible.
Lulin's green color comes from the gases that make up its Jupiter-sized atmosphere. Jets spewing from the comet's nucleus contain cyanogen (CN: a poisonous gas found in many comets) and diatomic carbon (C2). Both substances glow green when illuminated by sunlight in the near-vacuum of space.
In 1910, many people panicked when astronomers revealed Earth would pass through the cyanogen-rich tail of Comet Halley. False alarm: The wispy tail of the comet couldn't penetrate Earth's dense atmosphere; even it if had penetrated, there wasn't enough cyanogen to cause real trouble. Comet Lulin will cause even less trouble than Halley did. At closest approach in late February, Lulin will stop 38,000,000 miles short of Earth, utterly harmless.
To see Comet Lulin with your own eyes, set your alarm for 3 am. The comet rises a few hours before the sun and may be found about 1/3rd of the way up the southern sky before dawn. Here are some dates when it is especially easy to find:
Feb. 6th: Comet Lulin glides by Zubenelgenubi, a double star at the fulcrum of Libra's scales. Zubenelgenubi is not only fun to say (zuBEN-el-JA-newbee), but also a handy guide. You can see Zubenelgenubi with your unaided eye (it is about as bright as stars in the Big Dipper); binoculars pointed at the binary star reveal Comet Lulin in beautiful proximity.
Feb. 16th: Comet Lulin passes Spica in the constellation Virgo. Spica is a star of first magnitude and a guidepost even city astronomers cannot miss. A finderscope pointed at Spica will capture Comet Lulin in the field of view, centering the optics within a nudge of both objects.
Feb. 24th: Closest approach! On this special morning, Lulin will lie just a few degrees from Saturn in the constellation Leo. Saturn is obvious to the unaided eye, and Lulin could be as well. If this doesn't draw you out of bed, nothing will.
Ye notes that Comet Lulin is remarkable not only for its rare beauty, but also for its rare manner of discovery. "This is a 'comet of collaboration' between Taiwanese and Chinese astronomers," he says. "The discovery could not have been made without a contribution from both sides of the Strait that separates our countries. Chi Sheng Lin and other members of the Lulin Observatory staff enabled me to get the images I wanted, while I analyzed the data and found the comet."
Somewhere this month, Ye imagines, another youngster will bend over an eyepiece, see Comet Lulin, and feel the same thrill he did gazing at Comet Hale-Bopp in 1996. And who knows where that might lead...?
"I hope that my experience might inspire other young people to pursue the same starry dreams as myself," says Ye.
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3 comments:
Great.
Just great.
Every time Vleeptron postst something about an astronomical sensation it is pissing cats and dogs outside. Like right now.
Great. Just bloody great.
I live in the country, no sky scrapers, almost zero light emission. I could watch this stuff from the balcony with a cup of warm coffee and good Zeiss binoculars. I coud step outside and have view of the full night sky while standing on a farm field.
But no, it has to be another rainy night. Oh bloody well.
Which reminds me of the lad who travelled to India to witness the first Venus Transition. Took him ages to get there and set up his equipment. When the day of calculation came there were clouds in the sky, but not constantly blocking the view. Just in the few minutes of the observation of course.
Vleeptron controls the phenomena of Outer Space.
Earth Weather is the responsibility of Al Gore. I'll try to find his e-mail addie.
The thing about binoculars, telescopes and comets ... a good comet, head to tail, occupies such a wide field of the sky that if you try to look at it with a $2000 fancy-schmantzy telescope, it's like looking at the Mona Lisa's left nostril. The Zeiss binocs are way best for this sort of thing.
This is 2nd best or 3rd best, but when there's bad weather but something interesting in the sky, we can all see good images on the Web or (like eclipses) TV.
They couldn't do that 100 years ago. So Modern Times are better than Old Times.
Oooooh that's gorgeous! Time lapse of the Comet speeding toward Earth!
Will a king die? Will a prince be born? Will someone win a great victory in battle? (Will someone lose?)
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