Comet Lulin, the “Green Comet” Closest to Earth This Week

February 22nd, 2009

Comet Lulin will be closest to the Earth this week, and more precisely on February 24th. Comet Lulin will streak by the earth within 38 million miles – 160 times farther than the moon -and is expected to be visible to the naked eye.

The comet was discovered just one year ago, and the “Green Comet” name comes from poisonous cyanogen and diatomic carbon gases in its atmosphere.

Pretty scary that something this close was only discovered as little as one year ago isn’t it? If something was of danger to us you probably wouldn’t be needing a Seattle injury lawyer if it came into our atmosphere, but a mortician.

They are using NASA’s Swift satellite to monitor Comet Lulin as it closes on Earth. The spacecraft has recorded simultaneous ultraviolet and X-ray images of a comet.

“Swift is the ideal spacecraft with which to observe this comet”, said Jenny Carter, a scientist working with Dr Andrew Read at the University of Leicester, UK. “We alerted the Swift team that the comet might be visible” said Dr Read “and they quickly responded to take images using both the X-ray (XRT) and Ultraviolet/Optical Telescopes (UVOT) on-board.”

To view the comet this week the best time to look as after Midnight. It has already been seen by many of course, but this week it will be as close as it will ever get. Much easier to see in rural areas of course and away from city lights. It may be impossible to view in cities with the naked eye.

For most locations in the Northern Hemisphere, Lulin rises soon enough to be spotted in the late evening if you know where to look. The light from objects nearer to the horizon must pass through more of Earth’s atmosphere, however, so the best time to see the comet is after midnight, when it’s high in the sky.

“For those not-so-seasoned folks, I would advise them not to expect anything awe-inspiring,” said Joe Rao, SPACE.com’s Night Sky Columnist. “Visually to the naked eye in a dark sky, Lulin looks like a dim, fuzzy ’star’ and in a small telescope it appears like a fuzzball … somewhat brighter and more concentrated near the center and more diffuse around the edges. As comets go, it’s nice, but casual skywatchers are more likely to say, ‘That’s it?’ as opposed to more experienced observers who might actually utter, ‘Oh, wow!’”