
Bright green comet 21P will light up the skies of September - Earth_Change
https://www.space.com/41758-bright-green-comet-21p-of-september-2018.html
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vkou
Aspiring astronomers:

Do not expect to see anything resembling the photographs in the article. These
photographs are taken with very long exposure times - far longer then the
human eye is capable of.

Through a pair of binoculars, you will see a faint smudge (Which you will have
to pick out among a sky full of other faint smudges.)

Actually, come to think of it - don't wait - grab a pair of binoculars, and
look at a clear night sky, preferably away from a city. It'll be absolutely
covered in stars, and star clusters. (Which look like faint smudges)

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JNRowe
I have -- what I believe are -- similar misgivings when there are supermoon
stories doing the rounds in the press or social media.

Part of me wants to rant about the insignificance whenever someone mentions
it, and part of me just wants to remain silent in the hope that it will entice
people to at least look up.

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LeoPanthera
It won't "light up the skies". You need a small telescope or good binoculars
to see it.

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sieabahlpark
But my sensationalized headline says it will. You must be misspoken.

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harrylove
Not sure if this article was published with permission, but the original
article from September 7 is here: [https://www.space.com/41758-bright-green-
comet-21p-of-septem...](https://www.space.com/41758-bright-green-comet-21p-of-
september-2018.html)

~~~
dang
Thanks. We changed to that from [http://strangesounds.org/2018/09/bright-
green-comet-21p-will...](http://strangesounds.org/2018/09/bright-green-
comet-21p-will-light-up-the-skies-of-september-and-you-can-even-see-it-with-
binoculars.html).

Edit: we also banned it as a blogspam site, since several articles I looked at
were copied from elsewhere.

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merlincorey
My favorite part (though you will need binoculars at least or a 4" telescope
with 100x magnification):

> When and where to look

> The comet will be primarily a morning object all through September, well-
> placed for observation in the after-midnight and predawn hours. Currently,
> Giacobini-Zinner is located in the constellation of Auriga, the charioteer.
> In the nights that follow its closest approach, 21P will track on a
> southeastward trajectory against the background stars. On the morning of
> Sept. 11, the comet will reach a spot on the sky bordering three
> constellations: Auriga; Taurus, the bull; and Gemini, the twins.

> Make a special effort to look for 21P during the morning hours of Sept. 15;
> on that date, it will cross through Messier 35, a beautiful star cluster in
> Gemini. Of M35, the 19th century British astronomer William Lassell wrote in
> the “New Handbook of the Heavens” (McGraw Hill, 1948), “It is a marvelously
> striking object. No one can see it for the first time without an
> exclamation.”

> Walter Scott Houston, who wrote a column called “Deep-Sky Wonders” in Sky &
> Telescope magazine for nearly half a century, called M35 his “personal
> favorite open cluster.” In this cluster, faint stars form curves and
> festoons, with a reddish star in the center. This cluster will be the
> backdrop for 21P on the morning of Saturday, Sept. 15.

