Tag Archive | comet
October 14, 2019  

This Latest Interstellar Comet, 2I/Borisov, Is By NO Means The Only Comet To Spew Cyanide Gas. Quite Common!

by Anura Guruge

From ‘Google News’. It was BIG in … astronomy news.

Click to ENLARGE. From my ‘Comets 101’ book. Link below.

Yes, everybody is trying to cash in on this Interstellar Comet — supposedly the second we have discovered (albeit, both in the last 2-years). When I saw the headlines about cyanide it made me smile. I knew that cyanide was not uncommon in comets.

Recall Halley’s comet that comes around every 75-76 years. In the early 20th century there was a scare that folks would die from the cyanide that was emanating from its tail. Well nobody did.

So, please don’t get excited about this cyanide. It will NOT kill you or anybody else.

Has a ton of good information about comets.

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Check Categories ‘Events’ &  ‘Astronomy’.

by Anura Guruge

September 13, 2019  

TWO ‘Interstellar Comets’ In Less Than 2-Years — And We Have Never Seen ANY Before?

by Anura Guruge

Click to ENLARGE and study. See image below for origin — viz. JPL Small Body Database Browser.

Click to ENLARGE and study. JPL Small-Ball Database Browser.

Click to access ‘spaceweather.com’ and read the original.

Click to access my 2017 post.

I will grant that this new comet, C/2019 Q4 (Borisov), does have more of an intriguing orbital path than did C/2017 U1.

But, I am not willing to RUSH to the conclusion that it is interstellar — i.e., it did NOT originate in our own Oort cloud. Still very early days. That it is travelling too fast to be bound to the Sun is interesting.

I was not convinced about A/2017 U1 (ʻOumuamua) being interstellar and now others are joining in. SMILE. I do know some about comets.

All I am saying, for now, is don’t rush to a conclusion. Let’s study this puppy a bit more.

Definitely not going to be GREAT comet. It will be very far from the Sun. Twice as far as the Earth is to the Sun. So, unlikely that it will be very bright or sport a spectacular tail.

Just wanted to keep YOU in the loop. But, stay tuned.

Has a ton of good information about comets.

Related Posts:
Check Categories ‘Events’ &  ‘Astronomy’.

by Anura Guruge

December 16, 2018  

Christmas Comet, 46P/Wirtanen, Will Still Be Visible From New Hampshire — MID-WEEK.

by Anura Guruge

Click to ENLARGE. From ‘wunderground.com’.

Click to ENLARGE.

As happens quite often with us weather will intervene on Sunday — Monday when it comes to viewing Christmas Comet, 46P/Wirtanen. Yes, December 16 & December 17 are when it is closest to Earth. But, that does NOT mean that it will not be there on Tuesday or Wednesday. It will, albeit a bit further out and hence even fainter. So, binoculars would be a good idea.

So, do not despair. All is not lost. OK?

Enjoy. Happy Holidays.

Related posts:
Check Category ‘astronomy’.

by Anura Guruge

December 8, 2018  

How To See Christmas Comet, 46P/Wirtanen, In New Hampshire — Around December 16, 2018.

by Anura Guruge

Click to ENLARGE.

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

It is expected to be just naked eye visible. Will definitely be able to see it with binoculars — and, of course, a telescope, even a small one. It will be a green fuzzy ball. There will be NO TAIL per se. So, don’t be looking for the tail. Just a fuzzy, glowing green ball. The green ball should be fairly big — bigger than a star.

For us in New England, the easiest bearing is going to be the easy to locate ‘winter cluster’ — Pleiades (the seven sisters). See the chart above.

Related posts:
Check Category ‘astronomy’.

by Anura Guruge

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

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

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