Celestial Garden Slug

[Tony Hoffman]

Here's a particularly bright comet (2002 V1 NEAT) crossing the field of view of the SOHO solar-observing satellite:

http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/javagif/gifs_small/20030217_1654_c3.gif

Looks for all the universe to me like an enormous garden slug leaving a sticky trail across the heavens.

--Tony

[Howard Miller]

Here are a couple of comparison images (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030210.html), and a gallery (http://www.aerith.net/comet/catalog/2002V1/pictures.html) of earlier images, as well.

[Tony Hoffman]

I saw Comet NEAT a couple of times with my large binoculars, but alas it looked nothing like those. I've just made the APOD image my screen saver; too bad my icons eclipse much of it.

--Tony

[Howard Miller]

The main problem with APOD is that I don't have enough screens so I'd need to make screen savers from all its great images.

[Tony Hoffman]

It's baaaack! (http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/javagif/gifs_small/20040417_0454_c3.gif) Actually this is a new one, Comet Bradfield, discovered a few weeks ago by Australian amateur William Bradfield, one of the most prolific comet hunters of all time (this was his 18th comet). It may be a bright object in the morning sky in a week or two--or it might disintegrate first. (Comets are like cats: they both have tails, and they both do exactly what they want.--David Levy)

--Tony

[SarahJF]

Gosh. They're lovely. That first one in particular.

If they're large, can we see comets with the naked eye? I've binoculars, but they aren't particularly strong.


Sarah

[HowardM2]

Bradfield's is only one of three comets potentially visible over the next few weeks; here's a link to the other two (http://skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/comets/article_1229_1.asp).

It's a cometary traffic jam!

[Harry R]

Originally posted by SarahJF
Gosh. They're lovely. That first one in particular.

If they're large, can we see comets with the naked eye? I've binoculars, but they aren't particularly strong.


Sarah

Well, comet Hale-Bopp, the great comet of 1997, was bright enough that I was very easily able to point it out to someone as a bright smear on the sky from a pub garden in Islington. If you've ever tried looking at the stars from London, you'll appreciate what that means. From the Alps, where I went skiing that winter, you could see the whole shape of it with the naked eye, double curving tail and all.

That was a bright one though.

[Tony Hoffman]

Sarah,
Yes, fairly bright comets can be seen with the unaided eye. I managed to see Comets Hale-Bopp and Hyakutake from Manhattan with the naked eye, and many others from somewhat darker skies. Binoculars, even a small pair, are a big help--they are the instrument of choice for many comet observers (including myself). Of the three current ones, Comet NEAT should be the best for Northern-Hemisphere observers (as Comet LINEAR should be for the Southern Hemisphere), starting in early May; the charts at Howard's link will show where in the sky to look.
Tony

[SarahJF]

Thank-you.

I've had a look at the map, and I should be able to work out where to point my binoculars, come early May.



Originally posted by Harry R
If you've ever tried looking at the stars from London, you'll appreciate what that means.

I have (mainly when staggering back from a bar in the small hours, it has to be said), and I do. I think I caught a glimpse of some once, whilst waiting for a tube at Queens Park.

It's nice and clear here, being rural. Sheep and stars (and the noise of cows peeing in the night, which can be quite startlingly loud).


Sarah

[Dunc]

Actually, it looks like when I found a slug crawling on a borrowed CD, and threw them both on the hot-plate. Regards / Dunc

[HowardM2]

Here's a neat animation of all three comets (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/lib/koehn_threecomets_2004.gif) as they pass through the inner solar system.