Comet Lulin Is Moving Closer To Earth

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."

Comments

Mag 6 is *not* naked eye visible

[petes_PoV]

unless you live in the very darkest regions, utterly devoid of streetlighting.

I really wish people wouldn't talk up comets. They almost never live up to the hype - partly because the commentators are either hopelessly optimistic or over-enthusiastic. Then when the "average" person sticks their head out at night - hoping to see something spectacular, they are gravely disappointed.

This kind of thing damages the scientific credibility as a whole and turns people off the idea of beleiving scientists: "remember that comet they told us about - what a bust that was, I guess name of global catastrophe is the same - waste of time".

Re:Mag 6 is *not* naked eye visible

[TapeCutter]

"[Comets] almost never live up to the hype"

I've been looking at the sky for comets since around the time of the moon landings, Hayley's comet was a big dissapointment even though I was living in the bush at the time and had near perfect skies. However a couple of years ago when a I got break in a week of cloudy sky I saw Comet McNaght at it's peak brightness looking very much like this to (an old fart's) naked eye, from a beachside suburb in the glow of a major city! After 40yrs of looking at the sky I finally saw a comet in all it's awsome glory, but by that time comets were no longer the reason I habitually enjoyed "sticking my head out at night".

This kind of thing damages the scientific credibility as a whole and turns people off the idea of beleiving scientists: "remember that comet they told us about - what a bust that was, I guess name of global catastrophe is the same - waste of time".

Slightly offtopic but I don't agree, the only reason to belive scientists has got nothing to do with the scientists theselves. How many posts do we see on slashdot following the religious right's "unthinking is a virtue" philosophy when it comes to a political rant against the IPCC, they ranters fail to even read, let alone falsify the assertions contained within it's reports. And to add insult to injury these type of anti-science rants are often modded insightfull by what is supposed to be a bunch of nerds. I agree with Dawkins and Sagan that the "unthinking is a virtue" philosophy is our worst enemy but scientists are the last group of people I would blame for it's popularity.