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Comet Lulin Closest To Earth Tonight

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the get-out-your-telescopes dept.

William Robinson writes "Comet Lulin, formally known as C/2007 N3, which is on a visit to the inner solar system, will make its closest approach to earth tonight, about 38 million miles away. To the naked eye, the comet looks like a fuzzy patch of hazy light in the southeastern sky near Saturn, at the tip of Leo the Lion's hind leg. After this brief visit, Lulin will be heading back out to its kin in the Oort Cloud."

4 of 60 comments (clear)

  1. Nice antenostication there, guys by gardyloo · · Score: 5, Informative

    Too bad the /. posting is a day late.

    1. Re:Nice antenostication there, guys by scubamage · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yeah, I'm NOT a fan of the new system of story approval. For time sensitive stories like this it really wrecks the usefulness of slashdot. I had nothing to do last night, the sky was perfectly clear, and I would have loved to have seen the comet.

  2. I got some photos of Lulin a few days ago by yeremein · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I got a picture of Comet Lulin early Saturday morning.

    It's not nearly so impressive as Holmes was last year - but it certainly moves impressively fast. When I was taking test shots to check focus, I saw the comet visibly moved relative to the stars in 15 seconds. Holmes wasn't nearly that fast. I made an animation showing its motion relative to the stars over a period of 20 minutes.

  3. Umm, *last* night guys by edremy · · Score: 5, Informative
    Went out to see it on a perfectly clear (if rather freezing) night last night. It's very easy to find if you know where to look (hint to self next time- make sure to check if your finder chart is EST or UTC :^), but it's not really naked eye visible.

    Even in my 8-inch scope it was pretty underwhelming. This was nowhere near a Comet Holmes type event, where it was obviously naked eye visible and glorious in any kind of optics. Flipped the scope around and went cluster hunting, so the night wasn't a wash :^).

    You can still see it tonight (and for the next week) if you want: bring binoculars at the minimum. A finder chart is at Sky and Telescope. Note that the chart on that page is for 9PM EST but that the detailed charts are UTC.

    --
    "Seven Deadly Sins? I thought it was a to-do list!"