Quick Update - COMET!

[ithilwen]

Jumping on quickly at work to tell everyone to go outside this week and look up - there's a (dim) naked eye comet in the sky right now. Comet Lulin is brightening, and is expected to reach magnitude 5 during this week. That means this comet will be a faint naked eye object for people with dark night skies, and an easy object for anyone with binoculars (even in light-polluted areas). The comet is moving south through the constellation Leo; you can find where to spot it here. (The times and direction to look given in the Sky and Telescope article are for Northern Hemisphere observers; folks living in the bottom half of the world can look here for viewing times and a Southern Hemisphere sky chart. Basically, you want to look northeast instead of southeast to see it.)

Comments

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Drat! And we are, of course, clouded over and snowed up to the skies this week. I so wish I could see something like that just once. :(

[ithilwen.livejournal.com]

This particular comet was just a little fuzzball, so you didn't miss much. Here's hoping your skies are clear the next time a truly great comet comes into the neighborhood, though!