| Comet C/2014 Q2 (Lovejoy) is visible to sky watchers using binoculars on clear nights in January 2015. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) |
California sky watchers may be able to see two celestial bodies
zooming past Earth in the next few days with just a pair of binoculars.
If they’re savvy.
Comet
Lovejoy, which won’t be back for 8,000 years, is visible in the night
sky, and on Monday an asteroid as wide as five football fields will make
a near-Earth flyby.
| This image of Lovejoy combines a series of observations to show the comet, in red, moving across the sky. (NASA/JPL) |
The
asteroid may be more challenging to spot, but “comet Lovejoy is easy,”
says astronomer Edwin Krupp, director of the Griffith Observatory.
Still, he adds, it’s subtle. Its distinguishing characteristic is its
fuzziness.
At 8 or 9 p.m. Saturday — or any clear night through the end of this month — pick up a pair of binoculars and scout the sky.
“You’re
looking fairly high,” Krupp said, “about two-thirds or more of the way
up from the horizon and facing roughly toward the south….
“Look
straight at the Pleaides, take your binoculars and sweep almost
horizontally toward the right…. With binoculars, you’ll feel like
you’re moving past a lot of stars…. Look for a fuzzy little cottonball
of light that differs from the stars in that area.”
The comet’s tail won’t be visible, Krupp said. And although Lovejoy has a greenish glow, that will be difficult to see.
“It’s not really brilliant. What’s distinctive is it does look fuzzy.”
The
comet made its closest passage to Earth on Jan. 7, when it was 44
million miles away, according to the astronomer, but moving closer to
the sun has kept it bright.
Source Article from http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AscensionEarth2012/~3/cZWKvfKYtj8/time-to-see-comet-lovejoy-fly-past.html
Time to see Comet Lovejoy fly past Pleiades before it leaves for 8,000 years
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