Glen, if it's magnitude is changing so quickly, what do you think the best time to observe it in binoculars would be for Brisbane (I have 10x60's)?
I was looking forward to seeing it come within 3 degrees of Comet Lemon & making a nice triangle with 47Tuc at 1.20am Brisbane time on the 16th. I need to see this!
I came across what looks like to be a gem of a site for tracking this comet (thanks Teale!).
Quote:
There are three catches however. The first is that 2012 DA 14’s close encounter with the Earth is so close that the asteroids encounter with the Earth will shorten its orbital period from 366 to 317 days. This means that charts generated by most commercial astronomy programs won’t show the correct location of 2012 DA because these programs are not written to allow for the Earth’s gravitational effects.
The second catch is parallax. 2012 DA 14 is coming so close to the Earth that observers on different parts of the Earth’s surface will need to look in a slightly different part of the sky to see the asteroid. This means that you need to make sure the chart you are using is made for your location. One made for an observer, say 50 km away will have you looking in a slighly wrong part of the sky.
Finally, 2012 DA14 will be moving fast across the sky. How fast? According to Canberra, Australia based amateur astronomer and astronomy software writer, by 3.45 am AEST on Saturday 16 February, the asteroid will be at mag 7.9 and moving at 2705” per minute or roughly the diameter of the moon in 45 secs!
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http://nightskyonline.info/?p=5758
You don't need to log in to access it btw.