Thread: New Comet.....
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Old 14-04-2005, 07:55 PM
Greg Bryant
AS&T Editor

Greg Bryant is offline
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Sydney
Posts: 352
Phil,

Yep...April Fool indeed. Each year, when Bintel's April newsletter comes out, I'm always eager to look.

As for current comets...

C/2003 T4 (LINEAR) is in the pre-dawn sky at 8th magnitude, a little fainter than had been expected.

9P/Tempel 1 is slowly brightening. July 4 is its big day, when it gets hit with a lump of copper, courtesy of the Deep Impact probe. Some forecasts have the comet brightening to 6th or even 5th magnitude as a result.

Rob McNaught, at Siding Spring, has discovered a new comet. C/2005 E2 (McNaught) may reach 10th magnitude by the end of this year.

...and it's only a year to go until 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 returns. It makes an exceptionally close passage past Earth and may be visible to the unaided eye.
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