Comet lovers will have a chance to see comet Lulin
January 26th 2009 06:50
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Image taken by G.Ruppel using a guided telescope and CCD camera time exposure lasting 24 minutes
Lulin has just made its journey around around the sun, and soon it will be more visible to stargazers, perhaps even with the naked eye. Both professional and amateur astronomers have been tracking this comet since 2007. On February 24, Lulin is expected to brighten enough to be seem with the naked-eye. Lulin was initially described as an asteroidal object, when found by Quanzhi Ye (Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China).
Comet Lulin is expected to pass at around 400.000 miles from Earth on 2009 February 24. The brightness of the comet will be somewhere between planet Uranus (at its brightest) and the faintest stars visible to the naked eye.
Comets are by nature very hard objects to see with the naked eye. To be able to see this comet you need to very patient or have access to a rural area with minimal lighting to better your chances of see this particular comet. Some people tend to talk up comets but this leads to people being gravely disappointed. This is a faint object and under clear skies and areas that are devoid of street lighting you may catch a glimpse of Lulin. Yet never under estimate a comet behaviour, it may become bright as comet Holmes was early last year or just fade away.
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Comment by S.L.
The Political Brief
With my luck, I'll have everything ready to get a look at it and it'll be too cloudy! LOL It seems to happen to me a lot. So, thank you for the picture!
Comment by Damo