Comet Siding Spring Visibility

Comet mcnaught also known as the great comet of 2007 and given the designation c 2006 p1 is a non periodic comet discovered on 7 august 2006 by british australian astronomer robert h.

Comet siding spring visibility.

Passing at a distance of only 87 000 miles by comparison that s little. It was the brightest comet in over 40 years and was easily visible to the naked eye for observers in the southern hemisphere in january and february 2007. Comet siding spring nasa. The solid icy comet nucleus is too small to be resolved in the hubble picture.

The comet s bright coma a diffuse cloud of dust enshrouding the nucleus and a dusty tail are clearly visible. Predicting how much aperture is required to see a comet is a very complex task. Comet c 2013 a1 siding spring will make a very close flyby of mars on oct. Now comet swan could deliver on the promise of a rare night sky show that atlas failed to provide.

Mcnaught using the uppsala southern schmidt telescope. Comet visibility in the eyepiece. Comet c 2013 a1 siding spring position and finder charts. The first finder chart has a field of view of 50 degrees while the second one has a field of view of 10 degrees.

Comet c 2020 f8 swan captured by australia s siding spring telescope. This page uses code developed for skytools to predict the visibility of a comet in the eyepiece. Have a look for yourself. A comparison of the predictions below such as visible in small telescopes to the magnitude of each comet.

This is a composite image because a single exposure of the stellar background comet siding spring and mars would be problematic. Gas and dust in the comet s nucleus and coma often separate into two parts of the comet s tail. Below we provide comet c 2013 a1 siding spring finder charts showing where the object is right now in the sky with respect to the brightest stars. 19 comet c 2013 a1 comet siding spring will pass within about 87 000 miles 139 500 km of mars.

A comet s dust tail is the trail of dust and gas illuminated by the sun. Nasa s extensive fleet of science assets particularly those orbiting and roving mars have front row seats to image and study this once in a lifetime flyby.