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Comets
An unusual dwarf planet discovered in the outer Solar System could be en route to becoming the brightest comet ever known.
THE brightest comet in Australia's skies for more than 40 years will be visible from Jan 15th, astronomers have said.
Dr James Biggs, director of the Perth Observatory, said the McNaught Comet is currently at its closest approach around the Sun and will be visible to West Australians from Monday 15th for about a week.
"It should be easy to locate. Find a vantage point with an unobstructed view and look low on the horizon near where the Sun has set, in the direction of south-west, around 9pm (WDT)," Dr Biggs said.
Dr James Biggs, director of the Perth Observatory, said the McNaught Comet is currently at its closest approach around the Sun and will be visible to West Australians from Monday 15th for about a week.
"It should be easy to locate. Find a vantage point with an unobstructed view and look low on the horizon near where the Sun has set, in the direction of south-west, around 9pm (WDT)," Dr Biggs said.
A major Royal Navy and police search carried out near Dumfries has been blamed on sightings of a comet.
The alert was raised at about 1700 GMT on Friday when police operators started receiving calls about a "burning light" spotted above the town.
The alert was raised at about 1700 GMT on Friday when police operators started receiving calls about a "burning light" spotted above the town.
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| ©BBC |
| The comet is believed to have sparked a string of calls to police |
Cometary experts have calculated that the orbit of Comet McNaught should come as near as 15.8 million miles (25.4 million kilometers) from the Sun (what is called perihelion) on January 12, 2007. Thus, its brightness should peak on that date. At that time, it could be tens of times brighter than the planet Venus.
If you watch the morning or evening sky these days and have a clear view of the horizon, you will be able to spot a bright object with a prominent tail. That object is comet C/2006 P1 (McNaught). It was discovered on August 7th, 2006 by the hugely successful comet discoverer Rob McNaught (Siding Spring Survey). At time of discovery, the comet was a very faint object, but the predicted perihelion distance (closest distance to the sun) of just 0.17 astronomical units indicated that the object has the potential to become very bright indeed.
The idea that comets delivered the chemical "seeds" for life to the early Earth has been given a big boost.
Scientists studying the tiny grains of material recovered from Comet Wild-2 by Nasa's Stardust mission have found large, complex carbon-rich molecules.
They are of the type that could have been important precursor components of the initial reactions that gave rise to the planet's biochemistry.
The first full analysis of the Wild-2 grains is reported in Science magazine.
Scientists studying the tiny grains of material recovered from Comet Wild-2 by Nasa's Stardust mission have found large, complex carbon-rich molecules.
They are of the type that could have been important precursor components of the initial reactions that gave rise to the planet's biochemistry.
The first full analysis of the Wild-2 grains is reported in Science magazine.
Jarmo Moilanen, a municipal computer expert and amateur astronomer in the Finnish community of Vaala, has detected a new shower of meteors in the tale of a hitherto unknown comet.
Moilanen's two monitoring cameras that he keeps pointed at the sky and linked to his computer, registered an unexpected meteor shower already in October last year.
Moilanen's two monitoring cameras that he keeps pointed at the sky and linked to his computer, registered an unexpected meteor shower already in October last year.
RESIDENTS in central and western Victoria have reported seeing a bright light, possibly a comet, streaking across the sky just before sunset.
Callers to ABC Radio reported seeing the bright green coloured object shooting westward in the sky from Bendigo to Horsham in the state's northwest down to Colac in the southwest.
Callers to ABC Radio reported seeing the bright green coloured object shooting westward in the sky from Bendigo to Horsham in the state's northwest down to Colac in the southwest.
Major Episodes of Extraterrestrial Impacts Found to Correlate with 9 Major Episodes of Volcanism
Supporting the theory that catastrophic events significantly influence major Earth processes, researchers have determined that comet and meteorite impacts on Earth occurring over the last 4 billion years have directly correlated with the activity of strong and normal mantle plumes - heated mantle rock causing volcanic eruptions (e.g. Hawaii, Iceland).
Supporting the theory that catastrophic events significantly influence major Earth processes, researchers have determined that comet and meteorite impacts on Earth occurring over the last 4 billion years have directly correlated with the activity of strong and normal mantle plumes - heated mantle rock causing volcanic eruptions (e.g. Hawaii, Iceland).
What had been a modest comet seen only with binoculars or telescopes flared up this week to become visible to the naked eye.
Comment: Comment: Original story has pic.