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November 14, 2018  

ANOTHER Naked Eye Visible Comet Ahead Of Christmas 2018? C/2018 V1 (Machholz-Fujikawa-Iwamoto).

by Anura Guruge

Click to ENLARGE.

Comet C/2018 V1 ( Machholz-Fujikawa-Iwamoto )

Discovered: November 7, 2018 (yes, just last week).

Discoverers: One is Arizona (Donald E. Machholz, Jr.) & two in Japan (Shigehisa Fujikawa & Masayuki Iwamoto). You can find more here. Hence the name which credits all three.

C/2018 V1 is much more of a CLASSIC comet than our current ‘Christmas Comet of 2018‘, i.e., 46P/Wirtanen. That is why it has a ‘C/’ designation while the other is a ‘P/’. The ‘P/’ denotes that 46P/Wirtanen is a PERIODIC comet — one that swings around the sun on a regular basis (like a commuter). The ‘C/’, on the other hand, means that is a NON-PERIODIC. It means that this comet has not been previously seen in the last 200-years. Typically it means that it is a FIRST TIME visitor from far, far out in the Solar System, ideally from the Oort Cloud, the incubator of most comets at the very edge of our Solar System.

So, we are assuming it is a FRESH comet, with a lot of frozen matter that will sublimate as the comet gets closer and closer to the Sun. That is what makes it visible, gives it a tail and with luck makes it spectacular. Right now it is touch and go. Viewed through a powerful telescope you can already see a blue tail — that color indicating the presence of ionized Carbon Monoxide (CO+).

On Tuesday, November 27, 2018 it will be at its closest to Earth — 62 million miles. Comet ISON (C/2012 S1) that could have been the GREAT COMET of 2013 would have been 40 million miles. So, C/2018 V1 will be 22 million miles further out. BUT, unlike ISON it will make it around the Sun. That is a given. It is NOT a sungrazer. Actually it doesn’t get very close to the Sun! As you can see from the above diagram it does not even cross Mercury’s orbit.

Right now it is BORDERLINE — but shows more promise than 46P.

I will keep you posted. This was a BIG heads up.

Comet ISON IF it had rounded the Sun — rather than getting FRIED by it, because it went so close.

46P/Wirtanen

Click to ENLARGE and admire. From the JPL Small-Body Database Browser.

Related posts:
Check Category ‘astronomy’.

by Anura Guruge

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November 5, 2018  

Christmas Comet Of 2018 — 46P/Wirtanen — MIGHT NOT Be Naked Eye Visible.

by Anura Guruge

Click to ENLARGE and admire. From the JPL Small-Body Database Browser.

I have been keeping an eye on it as promised.

Touch-and-go right now. Teetering right on the edge of naked eye visibility — and even that means you are not going to be able to see it unless you have no ambient light. So forget seeing it from a city.

Alas. I am bummed for ALL of us.

But, I will keep on checking and let you know. OK?

Keep fingers, toes, and MOST OF ALL your eyes, crossed. That helps.

Related posts:
Check Category ‘astronomy’.

by Anura Guruge

October 16, 2018  

Christmas Comet Of 2018 — 46P/Wirtanen.

by Anura Guruge

Click to ENLARGE and read here. Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/46P/Wirtanen

Click to ENLARGE and admire. From the JPL Small-Body Database Browser.

It will NOT be spectacular, and it is definitely not a great comet, BUT, it is expected to be naked eye visible and it will be — WITHOUT FAIL — appear the week before Christmas 2018. It is Periodic Comet with a 5.4 year orbital period. So, it is a well known comet and one that is not going to fizzle away as did MY comet ISON in 2013.

This is just the initial heads-up. I just found out about it today. I will keep you posted. Promise.

Just mark it on your calendar. December 16, 2018 — COMET!

Exciting. We haven’t had a decent naked eye visible comet in DECADES!

Related posts:
Check Category ‘astronomy’.

by Anura Guruge

September 22, 2018  

Happy Autumnal (i.e.,Fall) Equinox 2018 — It Is Today In The U.S., Tomorrow In The U.K.

by Anura Guruge

Click to ENLARGE.

Enjoy.

Winter, bitter cold and snow will be HERE soon enough.

Related Posts:
Search on ‘equinox’ for lots of other posts with tons of pictures & diagrams.

by Anura Guruge

September 16, 2018  

2018 Autumnal (Fall) Equinox In New Hampshire Will Be On Saturday, September 22, 9:54pm (Eastern).

by Anura Guruge

Click pictures to ENLARGE.

Attribution WILL be enforced.

Sunrise & Sunset Times for Concord, New Hampshire around the September Equinox.
(From Time-and-Date).

Note that daylight is NOT exactly 12 hours!
If anything we get closer to 12 hours 3 days later.
There is a reason for that. It is our latitude above the equator.
If we were closer to the equator it would have been closer to 12 hours.
See this explanation in Time-and-Date.

My equinox diagram.

Click to ENLARGE, study and admire.

Related Posts:
Search on ‘equinox’ for lots of other posts with tons of pictures & diagrams.

by Anura Guruge

August 30, 2018  

Sunlight-Powered ‘LightSail 2’, Set To Launch Soon, Is Worth Getting To Know.

by Anura Guruge

Click to access the official site — the ‘Planetary Society’.

This YouTube video provides a GOOD introduction.

This YouTube video is just plain COOL.

Click to ENLARGE and read here. Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_sail

This is pretty neat. A tiny spacecraft, the size of a loaf of bread, powered by a Solar Sail — yes, powered by sunlight, but not in terms of solar energy per se.

It is set to launch soon — maybe in the next few weeks. So, keep an eye on the news. I will try to keep you posted.

Related posts:
Check Category ‘astronomy’.

by Anura Guruge

August 25, 2018  

A Naked Eye Visible Comet, FINALLY, 21P/Giacobini–Zinner — In September 2018.

by Anura Guruge

Click to ENLARGE and read here. Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/21P/Giacobini–Zinner

Click to ENLARGE and admire. From the JPL Small-Body Database Browser.

It will NOT be spectacular, and it is definitely not a great comet, BUT, if it is naked eye visible, it, with its green tinge (due to its chemical composition), should be quite the sight up there. We have not see a decent comet since the mid-1980s. Comet ISON, on which I expended considerable time and energy, vaporized when it got too close to the Sun.

No such danger with 21P/Giacobini–Zinner. This is not a sungrazer.

The ‘P’ in the 21P denotes that it is a periodic comet; i.e., a comet that has made at least 2 well observed orbits around the Sun. Actually 21P orbits the Sun every 6 years. It is very periodic. It doesn’t go too far away. Just beyond the orbit of Jupiter. It is well known and well studied comet that was discovered in 1900.

I will keep you posted. I was excited to hear that it might be naked eye visible. Wow.

Related posts:
Check Category ‘astronomy’.

by Anura Guruge

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