24 Feb: Comet Lulin and Saturn converge! … but wait…. there’s more!

COSMIC COINCIDENCE: What are the odds? On Tuesday, Feb. 24th, Saturn and Comet Lulin will converge in the constellation Leo only 2 degrees apart. At the same time, Comet Lulin will be making its closest approach to Earth – the comet at its best! – [… but wait…. there’s more!] while four of Saturn’s moons transit the disk of the ringed planet in view of backyard telescopes. Oh, and the Moon will be New, providing dark skies for anyone who wishes to see the show.

The best time to look is around 1 a.m. Tuesday morning (your local time) when the planet-comet combo ascend high in the southern sky. To the unaided eye, Comet Lulin looks like a faint patch of gas floating next to golden Saturn. Point your backyard telescope at that patch and you will see a lovely green comet with a double tail.

Visit http://spaceweather.com for full coverage including photos, sky maps, and a live webcast.

Geographic Notes: Comet Lulin is visible from all parts of the globe–all longitudes and both hemispheres. Directions are reversed in the southern hemisphere; there the comet is located in the northern sky around 1 am. Saturn is globally visible, too, [… but wait…. there’s more!] but the special quadruple transit of Saturn’s moons starting around 3 a.m. PST on Feb. 24th is visible only to observers around the Pacific Rim. Details may be found here: http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/19feb_quadrupletransit.htm

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

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6 Comments

Denis Crnkovic says:

23 February 2009 at 3:19 PM

Way cool!
Nick says:

23 February 2009 at 6:05 PM

Blessed be God, who in His Mercy created all things :)
Denis Crnkovic says:

23 February 2009 at 8:03 PM

Nick,

I think that’s what I meant to say…
Ed Peters says:

24 February 2009 at 10:06 AM

Aren’t dark skys a blessing, Pater? Here’s to “Good Seeing”.
Denis Crnkovic says:

24 February 2009 at 3:36 PM

It was cloudy here. Did anyone catch this?
Joe says:

24 February 2009 at 4:05 PM

I dunno. Wasn’t it a green comet that caused all the grief in The Day of the Triffids?

Comments are closed.

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