Two Major Comets In 2013....Maybe

[LordMond63]

http://www.examiner.com/article/two-...of-the-century

I'be been an astronomy buff since I had to use a stool to look through the eyepiece of a neighbor's telescope many, many years ago and I've always been a bit disappointed that I've never had the chance to see a truly awesome comet.

If you're really old- like me- you might remember the excitement about Kohoutek back in the 1970s. It was billed as possibly the most brilliant comet to be seen on earth in centuries. The reality was that you probably have seen far brighter sparklers.

Then there was Halley in 1986. By all accounts, it's passage in 1910 was truly a sight to see (and rumor has it that the earth actually paseed through the tail of the comet....a cottage industry of snake-oil salesmen sprang up, offering all sorts of cures for the ailments compounds in the tail would cause). I remember seeing Halley, but I had to use a pair of fairly powerful binoculars to be able to do so.

And now we in the Northern Hemisphere have the potential to have not one but two "once-in-a-century" comets in one year.

Coming up in March will be Comet PANSTAARS. Predictions are that it will be bright enough to be seen with the unaided eye and high enough above the horizon to be easily seen (western sky after sunset). It will be among the brightest objects in the night sky and with the conspicuous and beautiful tail that makes confusing it with a bright star impossible.

Take a good luck while you can...scientists estimate that it will not return for 110,000 years!

But the real Main Even will have to wait for November.

Comet ISON has the potential to be...get this...as bright as the full Moon, and might even be visible in daylight!

Look to the western sky beginning in early November, in the constellation Virgo. As ISON approaches the sun, it will become brighter and the tail longer- a spectacular sight indeed....

....and then it passes so close to the sun that the sun's gravity could tear it apart.

If that doesn't happen, December might prove to be even more amazing, as ISON could well rival at worst Venus (the brightest object in the sky other than the Moon) or, at best, the Moon itself, with a bright tail that stretches across half the sky. It will be visible both just after sunset and just before dawn....and possibly during daylight as well.

For more information on ISON: http://earthsky.org/space/big-sun-di...acular-in-2013

Let's all hope that the comets fulfill their potential and give us a dazzling show!

[Arnhelm]

Sounds interesting to me. Should be quite a show.

Oh, almost forgot...

The world is going to end!!! Panic!!!

[Bekki]

Uhhh....
Has anyone else noticed...?
All the Dolphins have left!?

[El_Magico_Gonzalez]

Not only the Dolphins...

[Missing_Minds]

Not only the Dolphins...

Bees... where are all the bees going?

[Bekki]

Bees... where are all the bees going?

I heard they... took...

"The last train to Clarksville".

[Arnhelm]

I heard they... took...

"The last train to Clarksville".

Well, at least they weren't slow

[Arkat]

Thanks for the info, OP. I am somewhat of an amateur astronomer myself but I was unaware of these comets!

+1 for you!

[Musouka]

Bees... where are all the bees going?

As the Doctor has said: "The Bees went home."

[LordMond63]

Beeware the Bees.....

[zDragonz]

Comet Ison is Huge! Bigger than the Continent of Australia!

[FlaviusMaximus]

Very interesting. Thanks for the information.

[zDragonz]

I predict something like what happened on Feb 15, 2013. But this time the debris is from the tail of Comet Ison, and huge debris I must add, might be caught on Camera like it did in Russia on that day. But this time much bigger and at more places on Earth and at the same time. But this time it is between Dec. 26 and the 30th.

[cdbd3rd]

I *so* wanted a piece of Skylab to fall in my back yard.


...a piece of a comet would work, too.

[zDragonz]

I wonder if this cold spell had anything to do with Earth passing through its tail?