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Comet Lulin: going green once in 50 million years & how you can find tonight's big show
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What can upstage the once-a-year appearance of Hollywood stars on the Oscars red carpet? A green comet named Lulin, which is sailing backwards through our neighborhood for the first time ever-- and it won't be back for 50 million years.
Tonight's the big night for sky wachers, as the unique double-tailed comet makes its closest approach to Earth ..And that's not the only reason to be excited and stay up overnight, according to Science@NASA:
On Feb. 24th, there's going to be a quadruple transit of Saturn's moons," says Keith Noll of the Hubble Space Telescope Science Institute. "Titan, Mimas, Dione and Enceladus will pass directly in front of Saturn and we'll see their silhouettes crossing Saturn's cloudtops—all four at the same time...
.....Transits like these are rare. "They only happen every 14 to 15 years when the orbits of Saturn's moons are nearly edge-on to Earth," says Noll.
You'll need binoculars or a telescope to see the entire show, astronomers say. With the moon at 1% of waning crescent--or almost invisible--you won't have to worry about moonlight interfering with your view.
Here's a video showing how to find Lulin. The simplest way: follow the Drinking Gourd, or the Big Dipper.
Use the pointer stars at the part of the gourd that connects with the handle, and draw a line down to Leo the Lion and the star Regulus. You'll see Saturn and Lulin. In general, right about 1 a.m. may be the best chance to catch Lulin at its closest point.
Lulin picks up speed as it swings around Earth. Its closest point will be about 38 million miles away. Astronomers and sky-watching enthusiasts have been tracking Lulin's incoming path for weeks now. After this week, sky watchers will be watching Lulin as it sails away on its open orbit.
Lulin was discovered by then-teenaged student Quanzhi Ye in 2007. Like many around the world, he's eagerly watching for the best opportunity to watch this historic sky event.
Just in case you have bad weather or light pollution, here's a video montage of Lulin's appearance so far.
The double picture of Lulin, above, was taken by Joseph Brimacombe and published via the Astronomy PIcture of the Day earlier this month:
Sweeping through the inner solar system, Comet Lulin is easily visible in both northern and southern hemispheres with binoculars or a small telescope. Recent changes in Lulin's lovely greenish coma and tails are featured in this two panel comparison of images taken on January 31st (top) and February 4th. Taken from dark New Mexico Skies, the images span over 2 degrees. In both views the comet sports an apparent antitail at the left -- the comet's dust tail appearing almost edge on from an earth-based perspective as it trails behind in Lulin's orbit. Extending to the right of the coma, away from the Sun, is the beautiful ion tail. Remarkably, as captured in the bottom panel, Comet Lulin's ion tail became disconnected on February 4, likely buffeted and torn away by magnetic fields in the solar wind. In 2007 NASA satellites recorded a similar disconnection event for Comet Encke. Don't worry, though. Comet tails can grow back.
Will you be watching? Share your experiences and your photos: spacenewsexaminer@hotmail.com
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