Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdušáková on December 31, 2016. Notice the moon. This part of the sky will be lit by twilight, shortly after sunset. The moon will be hard to see. It’s unlikely you’ll see the comet. On the other hand, if your sky is clear, you’ll definitely see the bright planet Venus! See the chart below. Image via NASA.
Several media stories that a comet will be “near Earth” and “visible” in the west after sunset on New Year’s Eve. It’s true that Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdušáková is in the west after sunset now. It’s not there only on New Year’s Eve, but has been there for some weeks. But visible? That depends on your definition of the word. Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdušáková is currently estimated at 6th magnitude. That’s barely within the limit for visibility with the unaided eye. A diffuse object, like a comet, at that brightness will be even tougher to see. You will need an extremely dark sky (a tough sky to find in the twilight direction, shortly after sunset) and likely optical aid (at least binoculars, probably a telescope) to see this comet.
There is an extremely bright object in that same part of the sky now. It’s the planet Venus. Many will likely look westward after sunset, see Venus, and think they’re seeing the comet.
Here’s an EarthSky chart for December 31, 2016. You might catch the very slim waxing crescent moon, beneath the planets Venus and Mars on that date. The comet is next to the moon. Neptune is there, but you’ll need optical aid to see it, too.
Is the comet near Earth? Well, sky distances are relative. It’s true that the comet is relatively near Earth, but not near on any human scale. It’s about 0.083 Astronomical Units away — more than 7 million miles away – or about 30 times more than the distance of Earth’s moon.
The comet will pass closest to the sun on December 31, 2016.
On the other hand … there is an comet that shows some promise of becoming (somewhat) visible, perhaps more easily seen than Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdušáková, during the first week of January. Read more about C/2016 U1 NEOWISE here. We’ll try to get a chart and more info up about it later today.
Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdušáková on December 30, 2016, via theskylive.com
Gerald Rhemann captured this photo of Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdušáková – using a telescope – on December 22 from Farm Tivoli in Namibia, Africa. Used with permission. Read more about this image.
Bottom line: Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdušáková is in the west after sunset now. It requires optical aid to be seen. By the way, we’ve seen very few photos of this comet, likely because even experts are having trouble finding it so near the twilight glare.
from EarthSky http://ift.tt/2ikQx4Y
Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdušáková on December 31, 2016. Notice the moon. This part of the sky will be lit by twilight, shortly after sunset. The moon will be hard to see. It’s unlikely you’ll see the comet. On the other hand, if your sky is clear, you’ll definitely see the bright planet Venus! See the chart below. Image via NASA.
Several media stories that a comet will be “near Earth” and “visible” in the west after sunset on New Year’s Eve. It’s true that Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdušáková is in the west after sunset now. It’s not there only on New Year’s Eve, but has been there for some weeks. But visible? That depends on your definition of the word. Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdušáková is currently estimated at 6th magnitude. That’s barely within the limit for visibility with the unaided eye. A diffuse object, like a comet, at that brightness will be even tougher to see. You will need an extremely dark sky (a tough sky to find in the twilight direction, shortly after sunset) and likely optical aid (at least binoculars, probably a telescope) to see this comet.
There is an extremely bright object in that same part of the sky now. It’s the planet Venus. Many will likely look westward after sunset, see Venus, and think they’re seeing the comet.
Here’s an EarthSky chart for December 31, 2016. You might catch the very slim waxing crescent moon, beneath the planets Venus and Mars on that date. The comet is next to the moon. Neptune is there, but you’ll need optical aid to see it, too.
Is the comet near Earth? Well, sky distances are relative. It’s true that the comet is relatively near Earth, but not near on any human scale. It’s about 0.083 Astronomical Units away — more than 7 million miles away – or about 30 times more than the distance of Earth’s moon.
The comet will pass closest to the sun on December 31, 2016.
On the other hand … there is an comet that shows some promise of becoming (somewhat) visible, perhaps more easily seen than Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdušáková, during the first week of January. Read more about C/2016 U1 NEOWISE here. We’ll try to get a chart and more info up about it later today.
Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdušáková on December 30, 2016, via theskylive.com
Gerald Rhemann captured this photo of Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdušáková – using a telescope – on December 22 from Farm Tivoli in Namibia, Africa. Used with permission. Read more about this image.
Bottom line: Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdušáková is in the west after sunset now. It requires optical aid to be seen. By the way, we’ve seen very few photos of this comet, likely because even experts are having trouble finding it so near the twilight glare.
from EarthSky http://ift.tt/2ikQx4Y
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