The Briefing Room
General Category => Science, Technology and Knowledge => Space => Topic started by: Elderberry on November 29, 2018, 11:03:07 pm
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Space Weather 11/29/2018
Small but hyperactive Comet 46P/Wirtanen is approaching Earth and could soon become visible to the naked eye. On Dec. 16th, the kilometer-wide ball of dirty ice will be less than 11.5 million km away--making it one of the 10 closest-approaching comets of the Space Age. It already looks magnificent through amateur telescopes. On Nov. 26th, Gerald Rhemann took this picture using a 12-inch reflector in Farm Tivoli, Namibia:
(http://www.spaceweather.com/images2018/28nov18/46p_strip.jpg)
Rhemann says that the comet's emerald green atmosphere is 50 arcminutes wide. In other words--almost twice as wide as a full Moon. Its apparent diameter could double in the weeks ahead as the comet comes even closer. Because Wirtanen's brightness is spread over such a wide area, it is diluted just below the limit of naked eye visibility, with a current magnitude near +6.0. We don't yet know if the comet will ultimately become visible to the unaided eye--but it will certainly be an easy target for binoculars and backyard telescopes in December.
More: http://www.spaceweather.com/ (http://www.spaceweather.com/)