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Comet Lulin Is Moving Closer To Earth

Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday January 12, 2009 @01:51AM from the space-sparkles dept.

goran72 writes "The comet is swinging around the Sun and approaching the Earth. The photogenic Lulin has a bright tail and an 'anti-tail.' At its closest approach in February, Comet Lulin is expected to brighten to naked-eye visibility, reaching a magnitude of six."

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Re:Magnitude of six... what by d3m0nCr4t · 2009-01-12 01:55 · Score: 5, Informative

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apparent_magnitude
Re:Magnitude of six... what by martinw89 · 2009-01-12 02:00 · Score: 3, Informative

Ahh OK, not being familiar with apparent magnitude I was looking for some sort of unit to search for. Now I see.
For those interested in the brightness of the comet, it will be somewhere between the Uranus (at its brightest) and the faintest stars visible to the naked eye.