comet

Chris Knight's avatar

2013 is promising (or threatening, depending on the stock one puts in omens) to be an incredible year for comets in our sky.  Depending on where you live there are two and maybe even three of those cosmic iceballs that may give us quite a show.  In a few short weeks Comet PANSTARRS will become visible to the naked eye in the Northern Hemisphere: perhaps more brilliant than any in more than a decade.  Comet Lemmon, found late last year, could turn into a moderately bright beauty for our friends south of the Equator (and certain gases in its tail are giving it a green color).

The big, big show is still to come.  This fall brings Comet ISON… and it could be one massive honker of a spectacle, folks!  If you remember Comet Hyakutake in the spring of 1996 and how enormous it was (I’ll never forget how it ...

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Chris Knight's avatar

Comet C/2007 N3, better known as Comet Lulin, is having its apogee (closest approach to the Earth) this evening. Earlier tonight I went out with a good pair of binoculars and found it in the west-southwestern sky, to the right of Saturn (Fox News has more on where to find it). Out in the darkened countryside, with a clear sky and a cold night (meaning less air turbulence), Lulin could easily be picked out with the naked eye and with binoculars, the greenish tint of this very strange comet – it’s also traveling backwards from where the tail should be, by the way, and retrograde (opposite) of the direction of the planets – was readily discernible.

So far as comets go, Lulin is certainly the best naked-eye viewing since Hale-Bopp back in 1997. Lulin will still be visible for a few days: catch it if you ...

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Chris Knight's avatar

Remember these guys?

It was ten years ago tonight that the 39 members of the “Heaven’s Gate” cult were found dead – after committing mass suicide – in their house in California. That was one weird thing when it happened. In case you were a bit younger: these guys were a UFO cult that believed a flying saucer was accompanying the Hale-Bopp Comet, which was big in the skies that spring. By killing themselves – or “leaving their earthly vehicles” as they put it – the Heaven’s Gate bunch thought they were going to be takign a trip into outer space. Remember when they were showing footage shot inside the place: all those bodies with bags around their heads, wearing the same outfits and all found to be carrying five dollars in quarters (for the “videogames” that were going to be onboard the UFO that was supposed to pick them ...

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