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Never send a ghost to do a Dark Lady's work... this thread belongs in LEAVING ORBIT!!! *rolls eyes*

ANYWAY, as long as it's here, which will probably get more attention anyway, let me continue. YES, WE HAVE A COMET IN THE SKY, up in the constellation of Perseus. That's the group of stars on a line "between" the "w"-shaped constellation of Casseopia and the end of Taurus the Bull's horns.

It's visible to the naked eye, great in binoculars, and AWESOME in small telescopes. As of today it's larger than Jupiter and covers the same angular distance as the Sea of Tranquility on the moon.

Again, go to www.spaceweather.com for maps showing where it is and further information. I GREATLY urge you take advantage of it NOW; this comet NORMALLY is magnitude 17 (read here SUPER, SUPER DIM) and thus fairly nondescript. Apparently it harbors "sinkholes," (at least this is the going theory) one of which must have collapsed, exposing inner ice to the sun's energy for the first time. Those ices immediately sublimated into gas, literally "erupting" from its interior. It brightened in magnitude from invisible to naked eye visible (mag 17 to 2.5) in a period of hours; it currently has a "halo" around a brighter core; as mentioned the entirety is actually larger now than the planet Jupiter.

So far though it has no tail, but it's incoming and it could be we just can't see it yet...

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It's still up there in Perseus, only now it doesn't look like a "star," but rather a bigger, fuzzier blob. GREAT in binoculars, AWESOME in a telescope. This is one sweet, and surprising, comet!

((Ok, I did the math. It subtends approximately 14.2 minutes of arc. Yup, that's just about half of a full moon in size. Fun how that works, hehe.))

[ 11-05-2007 05:29 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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This thing is getting ENORMOUS; you can't imagine how GREAT it is in binoculars. It's naked eye visible as a fairly good sized fuzzy splotch in Perseus -- between the "w" of Cassieopia and the horns of Taurus the Bull; around midnight or so, local time, it's darned smack on the zenith, so it's really getting to be easy to find.

but in binoculars... OMG. REALLY, REALLY NEAT.

I GREATLY urge everyone to step outside and just LOOK UP. Hopefully you'll have a nice dark area to look up in; believe me, if you don't it's well worth the drive to get a little bit away from over-abundant city lights to see this comet. (If not, don't worry. It's being called an "urban" comet, meaning you can see it naked eye through city lights. Reports state people in downtown Kansas City could see it naked eye, for example.) It's shooting out what were once core ices, "exploding" as those ices sublimate into gas (that's what shoots out and expands outward) and getting bigger and more awesome. Plus its getting closer, too.

Basically, since this even began its brightened a millionfold. THAT'S PURTY BRIGHT... and big, too. (Normally this is a small, rather nondescript comet seen only through a telescope if you know where to look.)

But it won't be like this forever, this is a once in a lifetime thing, guys; GO OUT AND SEE IT.

[ 11-05-2007 05:36 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Graysith ]

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