Thursday, December 27, 2012

Update: Comet C/2012 K5 Linear

 Comet K5 Linear is cruising it's way out of Ursa Major and will soon cross over into Lynx. As it does, K5 will slightly brighten and should be as bright as it will get (mag 7.3) on December 29.

 Unfortunately, this is the day after the full moon! It will only be observable in a moonless sky for only a short time after sunset, perhaps half an hour. Afterwards, most of the comet will likely be washed out by the glare of the nearly full moon.

 Instead, wait two days and observe on the 31st of December. The moon won't rise until well after 8:00pm, giving you more time to observe and even image K5. By this time it will be just about into Auriga, under the binary star system Menkalinan (beta Aurigae, mag 1.9), making it easy to find. And it will have only lost a tenth of a magnitude in brightness.

 Moonlight can make it very difficult to observe comets, especially those of a  higher magnitude. A sky bathed in moonlight can make a comet hard to find and completely wash out the comet's tail and the thin atmosphere around the nucleus, called a coma.

  

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