The Year of the Comet
As far as celestial events go, 2013 may very well be a year for the history books.
Two comets
swing into the inner solar system this year, one next month and the other at
the end year. Both comets have the
potential to reach naked eye visibility.
But the second may be bright enough to view during daylight.
What exactly is a comet anyway? Comets are best described as dirty snowballs orbiting the
sun at the outer edges of the solar system in a huge cloud known as the Oort
Cloud. When nudged by the gravity
of a passing star, they are hurled in long elliptical orbits around the
sun. As the comet nears the sun,
it’s icy material melts, forming an enormous tail of gas and dust. Sometimes comets brighten so much they
can be easily seen with the naked eye.
We begin with Comet PanSTARRS, which was discovered by the
Pan-STARRS telescope in Hawaii in June 2011. Throughout February, this comet is only visible in the
southern hemisphere. But in
early March, PanSTARRS whips around the sun becoming an evening object for
Northern Hemisphere observers. It
will grace the western sky after sunset from March 10 through the end of the
month.
If we’re lucky PanSTARRS may reach naked-eye visibility and
sport a wispy tailing extending upward.
The problem with comets though, is that they are notoriously
unpredictable. It may be a
breathtaking object or it may be a dud.
Time will tell. In next
month’s article there will be more details on how to observe PanSTARRS and by
then we hopefully will have a better sense of how bright the comet will
be.
The real showstopper comes toward the end of 2013 in Comet
ISON. Discovered last fall as a very
faint object in the cold depths of the solar system, this comet has a date with
the sun on Thanksgiving Day. ISON
will graze the sun’s outer atmosphere, passing within a mere 680,000 miles from
our star’s surface! If it can hold
together, and resist being torn apart by the sun’s immense gravity, it should
emerge as a stunning object possibly brighter than the full moon. Such magnitude would make ISON visible
during the day!
Some are already calling Comet ISON the “Comet of the
Century.” But the unpredictability
of comets can’t be overstated. It
could be a let down, as other comets have been. In any case it is one to watch and you can bet that space
enthusiasts around the globe will closely follow Comet ISON’s progress. We at the Cosmosphere will as
well. Stay tuned for opportunities
to observe with us.
