Comet Lulin bright in sky near Saturn (astronomy geek content)

hbarcat · #1 02-21-2009, 03:21 AM

Comet Lulin this week is at its brightest and closest to Earth — right when the sky is conveniently moonless. Use binoculars or a telescope to look for it once it's well up in late evening. The comet is glowing at about magnitude 5.6 as it moves rapidly westward across Virgo.

In recent days the comet's dust-spike antitail has grown longer and stronger, completely outclassing its "true" tail, which points properly away from the Sun like a comet's tail should.

On Monday night, February 23rd, the comet passes 2° south-southwest of Saturn.

Lulin’s closest approach to Earth, 0.41 a.u. (61 million km), occurs on February 24th. -- Sky and Telescope online

summary:
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/ataglance

more details and charts:
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/obser.../35992534.html

Comet Lulin

Relic · #2 02-21-2009, 04:57 AM

ooh have to check this one out. My sons and I are astronomy geeks. This should be pretty cool.

Happynoj · #3 02-21-2009, 06:26 AM

Mars is bright tonight...

Lady Kayri · #4 02-21-2009, 03:23 PM

Blech. Too many cloudy skies this week. Rats. Maybe it'll clear, it's not like the comet is gonna dissappear, just fade a bit as time goes on.

machine gewehr · #5 02-21-2009, 07:20 PM

I live in Istanbul,you can't even see the stars in cities that are this bright.Damn light pollution,I miss my stars.

hbarcat · #6 02-21-2009, 09:33 PM

That sucks, dude. I live near Chicago and I have the same problem. But I just drive about 50 miles west when I want to see the stars and the milky way (yes, it is sometimes worth it to me to drive that far and spend gas money to get a better look at the nighttime sky

)

I know this may not be an option for most people but it's something I've done. I bought a pair of light pollution reduction filters (Lumicon UHC) for use with my binoculars. Still, the city sucks.

machine gewehr · #7 02-22-2009, 07:40 AM

Light pollution reduction filters?Sounds like a good idea,I'll check those out.Hoew good do the work in the city?
I miss being in the country side and watch the sky lying on the floor...

Relic · #8 02-22-2009, 07:43 AM

I'm in the suburbs so we do get a bit of light pollution, although it's not too bad I guess. With regular binoculars you can see a lot more here.

hbarcat · #9 02-22-2009, 07:45 AM

LPR filters are kind of pricey and they're not a perfect solution.

Here's a good place to start:

http://www.knoxvilleobservers.org/ds...prfilters.html

**Vorago** · #10 02-22-2009, 07:46 AM

Can you believe that during the entire period Comet McNaught was visible in 2007 it was clouded overhere? That was like 5 or 6 weeks.

And I live in the most light polluted area in Europe...so yeah