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Comets A-Go-Go
Apr. 15th, 2004 08:17 pmFrom today's http://spaceweather.com/
COMET BRADFIELD: Newly-discovered Comet Bradfield (C/2004 F4) is plunging toward the sun. At closest approach on April 17th it will be well inside the orbit of Mercury, only 0.17 AU from the sun. Comets that get so close to the sun can become very bright and, sometimes, they break apart.
The sun's glare will hide the encounter from observers on Earth, but not from the orbiting Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). Coronagraphs onboard SOHO are able to block the glare and reveal sungrazing comets. Comet Bradfield will enter SOHO's field of view on April 16th. Come back then for images!
If Comet Bradfield survives its swing by the Sun, northern sky watchers can see it emerging again on or about April 24th. It will join Comet LINEAR (C/2002 T7) in the constellation Pisces, just above the eastern horizon at dawn. Both comets could be visible to the unaided eye. (In Pisces, look east just before dawn on April 24.)
COMET NEAT: In the southern hemisphere constellation Horologium, Comet NEAT (C/2001 Q4) is growing brighter every day. It's glowing like a 3rd magnitude star now, visible in the evening sky from, e.g., Australia, southern Africa and South America. Ray Pickard at the Bathurst Observatory in New South Wales, Australia, made these sketches of the comet on April 12th. Rather than taking pictures, says Bathurst, "I prefer to sketch because the eye can be better at recording faint details." [sky map]
This comet will soon swing north and brighten further to about 1st magnitude. Northern hemisphere sky watchers should have no trouble seeing it in the evening sky after May 5th. (In Canis Major, look southwest after sunset.)
COMET BRADFIELD: Newly-discovered Comet Bradfield (C/2004 F4) is plunging toward the sun. At closest approach on April 17th it will be well inside the orbit of Mercury, only 0.17 AU from the sun. Comets that get so close to the sun can become very bright and, sometimes, they break apart.
The sun's glare will hide the encounter from observers on Earth, but not from the orbiting Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). Coronagraphs onboard SOHO are able to block the glare and reveal sungrazing comets. Comet Bradfield will enter SOHO's field of view on April 16th. Come back then for images!
If Comet Bradfield survives its swing by the Sun, northern sky watchers can see it emerging again on or about April 24th. It will join Comet LINEAR (C/2002 T7) in the constellation Pisces, just above the eastern horizon at dawn. Both comets could be visible to the unaided eye. (In Pisces, look east just before dawn on April 24.)
COMET NEAT: In the southern hemisphere constellation Horologium, Comet NEAT (C/2001 Q4) is growing brighter every day. It's glowing like a 3rd magnitude star now, visible in the evening sky from, e.g., Australia, southern Africa and South America. Ray Pickard at the Bathurst Observatory in New South Wales, Australia, made these sketches of the comet on April 12th. Rather than taking pictures, says Bathurst, "I prefer to sketch because the eye can be better at recording faint details." [sky map]
This comet will soon swing north and brighten further to about 1st magnitude. Northern hemisphere sky watchers should have no trouble seeing it in the evening sky after May 5th. (In Canis Major, look southwest after sunset.)