Comet Break-Up Puts On Sky Show

BBC ^ | 5-11-2006

[Darksheare]

NOT my fault.

We won't be able to see it unless the cloud cover goes away.

[ngc6656]

Left out of the BBC article is the fact that the light of the Full Moon this weekend will make seeing the comet more difficult. But that is a moot point for those of us in the Midwest and Middle Atlantic states as long as that dagblasted low pressure system continues to linger over the Great Lakes.

[maine-iac7]

LoL - good catch

[maine-iac7]

I guess God hasn't totally given up on us yet :o)

[Molly Pitcher]

Thanks! This would be possible, except for the darn clouds...too overcast..

[Fintan]

Okay, dumb question: Can I view this with binoculars?

[blam]

"Okay, dumb question: Can I view this with binoculars?"

I don't know. It looks like El Gato is the one who would know. I pinged him.

[RightWhale]

There is no night sky this time of the year. The sun sets, barely, but doesn't dip low enough below the horizon to allow night. Just a hundred miles north of here is the Arctic circle where there is the phenomenon of the midnight sun when the sun doesn't set at all at the solstice. North of that, such as at Prudhoe or Barrow the sun doesn't set all summer, which leads to the joke about the parents telling the kids to be back before dark, which would be sometime in October. Living on a round planet gives different experiences to people in different latitudes.

[RightWhale]

This comet is giving off X-rays and is under observation by at least three X-ray telescope satellites.

[ngc6656]

Can I view this with binoculars?

If you have pristine skies with no bright city skies nearby it is possible to see the comet with binoculars, but as I noted in an earlier post on this thread, moonlight is going to cause problems. The comet will not leap out at you: look for a faint, fuzzy "star" with perhaps the suggestion of a short tail. The skyglow caused by the Moon will subdue the fainter regions of the comet's coma and tail.

[Orlando]

"Pacific Peril" 3-Day Multi-State Tsunami Exercise Begins 23 May 2006

http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=25962

More info/images and updates on:

http://www.spaceweather.com

[Orlando]

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/swift/bursts/swift_comet.html

more:

http://swift.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/sdc/ql?

[Orlando]

Check this out,(bottom)
" A light meteor shower should also occur starting late next week as TINY bits of comet CRASH into the Earth's atmosphere. For the best views, Dodge city lights by driving into the San Gabriel mountains,etc..."

"Crumbling Comet Spotted"
by: Elise Kleeman(Staff Writer)
May 14th, 2006

http://www.sgvtribune.com/news/ci_3808640

Check out Hubble Telesope close-ups from April 18th of Comet P73(B):

http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/large/heic0605b.jpg