The strangely brightening comet

[trancejeremy]

The rain finally cleared out, so I finally got a chance to see it. Pretty easy to spot, even with the full moon, because not many stars are visible, you can pick it out.

Just look north and find Casseopia (which is easier to do than spell), it's 4 bright stars, 3 are in a triangle, and the 4th points right to Perseus. And Perseus only has 2 bright stars (1 bright, 1 semi-bright) and the comet makes a triangle (or pyramid) of sorts with those 2 (the comet being the one on the bottom left).

 

[Dr. Harry]

I've seen it in the mornings a few times late this week. Brighter than Jupiter gets. I figured it was Jupiter, in fact. Not close enough to sunrise to be Venus. Glad to know what it is. Thanks.

Here is a star map set up for southern Minnesota, at about six o'clock in the morning. This will be a little bit different for Minnesota than Saettle, but only by a couple of degrees. I have marked the comet's position with a circle with a cross in it. It will be about as bright as the star Mirfak next to it.

Venus, Saturn, and Mars are also visible.

Here is the star chart's link (The file is attached to the post).

http://www.heavens-above.com/skycha...gcaiddmejahcmphipnmcd&SL=on&SN=on&BW=1&SZ=500

Here are more maps for finding the comet.


http://www.heavens-above.com/comet.aspx?cid=17P&Session=kebgcaiddmejahcmphipnmcd

 

[trancejeremy]

I have marked the comet's position with a circle with a cross in it. It will be about as bright as the star Mirfak next to it.

When I saw it last, it looked a bit fainter than Mirfak, it was about on par with Algol. Not nearly as cool as the Hale Bopp comet from years past, but still pretty cool seeing a comet with the naked eye. And you can definitely see the fuzziness through binoculars.

 

[Dr. Harry]

When I saw it last, it looked a bit fainter than Mirfak, it was about on par with Algol. Not nearly as cool as the Hale Bopp coment from years past, but still pretty cool seeing a comet with the naked eye. And you can definitely see the fuzziness through binoculars.

I'm still grateful for Hale-Bopp and Hyuakutake; before that, I was still taking &^$ for Halley's Comet in '86, like it was *my* fault.

 

[Slapzilla]

Thanks Dr. Harry.

 

[Dr. Harry]

Thanks Dr. Harry.

My pleasure. Check out pictures at

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap071029.html

(This telescopic view is actually what the darn thing looked like to me when I looked at it through a small telescope.)

and

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap071030.html

 

[Steve Jung]

I took a look from my deck. It looks like a bright smudge down and to the right of Cassiopeia.

 

[Joker]

Where's Bruce Willis?

Zing!!!

 

[trancejeremy]

Looks like it's fading to me.

 

[JediSoth]

No one knows why it brightened. Unbeknownst to us, it's releasing a massive burst of tetryons, bombarding the Earth with exotic cosmic radiation which will soon begin to mutate some people.

The people will develop powers beyond the ken of normal humans. You, soon, will believe a man can fly.

Oh wait, that's the explanation of why people have superpowers in my NaNoWriMo novel. It's not real.

Or is it?

DUN-DUN-DUUUUNNNNNN!

JediSoth