View The Remains of a Broken Comet

Friday, March 31st, 2006 at 10:44 AM by Dave

In 1995, Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 did something unexpected: it broke into 3 parts. At that time the comet was over 150 million miles away from the Earth. This is the approximate distance from the Sun to Mars.

This May the comet will be only 6 million miles away from the Earth or about the equivalent distance of 25 Moons away. Even at this close range the comet fragments will be dim and small. You’ll need to view them with a pair of binoculars at a dark site, away from any cities. The brightness of the comet fragments is expected to be 3rd or 4th magnitude, only dimly visible to the naked eye. To see any details you’ll have use binoculars or a telescope.

The recent large comets, Hayutake and Hale-Bopp in 1996 and 1997, were so large you were able to see them within a light polluted city with no problem. This comet must be viewed away from a city to see any great details.

The fragments of 73P created several mini-comets. Recent evidence indicates that the comet has further sub-divided into additional fragments. One of the larger fragments has broken into 6 additional pieces, giving 8 fragments to view. Additional evidence seems to indicate that the fragments themselves are further sub-dividing so we don’t know to what extent the number of pieces that will be visible during May.

Around the date of May 12th the comet will pass through the constellations of Cygnus and Pegasus. Further updates will follow in the next month.

Clear skies to you all.

Posted in Astronomy News

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