Next comet?

[Bryce]

When does the the next comet pass by?

[that_guy (Tony)]

should give Terry (CometGuy) a PM bryce... hes the resident comet nut haha good luck

[CometGuy]

Bryce,

There are usually a couple of comets visible at any given time for somebody with a medium size telescope (say 8-10" aperture).

At the moment the brightest comet is Comet Hartley at about magnitude 7, which in a couple of days is located near the open clusters M46 and M47 in the constellation Puppis.

Unfortunately we don't know when the next bright comet (i.e visible to the naked eye) will be.

Terry

[Bryce]

OK, so that's good . Do you now any thing about next year?

[CometGuy]

PM = Private Message

[Bryce]

Thanks

[CometGuy]

Bryce..no I don't. Best idea is to keep your eyes open on the forums for any new announcements. Usually bright comets are unexpected. For example the bright Comet McNaught back in 2007 was not discovered until less than 6 months prior to its brightest display.

Terry

[Outbackmanyep]

I think our next best prospect is C/2009 P1 Garradd next August, it is predicted to reach mag 6-7, unless a new comet is found that might reach naked eye visibility P1 may scrape through under a dark country sky.

For all other comets check here:
http://www.aerith.net/comet/future-s.html

[BLiTZWiNG (Trent)]

McNaught was so amazing. Halleys' comet was nothing compared to that. I did my first ever astrophotography on McNaught. Without a telescope. Without a zoom lense. Just my trusty old Sony Cybershot 5mp camera.

Well I guess the one thing we can probably guarantee is that longest you'll have to wait is 51 years

[Mariposa (Amalia)]

How about that coment 45P Honda which will pass near Earth on August 15th next year?.....y read that it will be well placed for southern hemisphere viewers. I think it will reach magnitude 7 (that doesn't sound like naked eye, but it might be interesting with moderate telescopes).

[bkm2304 (Richard Brown)]

Hi Bryce,

A really neat website is the Skytools comet chasing site. It provides a summary plus very clear maps for finding various comets at any time. The site has lots of interesting software demos etc for comet enthusiasts. A bit more technical is the Minor Planet Centre at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in the USA. It is the clearing house for all things cometary, asteroidal, etc

Richard

[bkm2304 (Richard Brown)]

Originally Posted by Mariposa

How about that coment 45P Honda which will pass near Earth on August 15th next year?.....y read that it will be well placed for southern hemisphere viewers. I think it will reach magnitude 7 (that doesn't sound like naked eye, but it might be interesting with moderate telescopes).

A really fun website is the Jet Propulsion Laboratory orbit plotter. Just plug in a comet name and you will get the orbit animated and you can watch it go!

Richard

[bkm2304 (Richard Brown)]

Originally Posted by bkm2304

A really fun website is the Jet Propulsion Laboratory orbit plotter. Just plug in a comet name and you will get the orbit animated and you can watch it go!

Richard

In fact, just had a look and according to the simulation, closest approach to earth is August 18 20011 at just 0.0767 AU or about 11 million km.

Sky Tools shows the comet to be too faint to see at this time. At Perihelion in late November it is bright but sets with the sun and rises with it - typical!!

Also, let's not forget Mr Mrkos and Ms Pajdusakova , the other discoverers attached to the comet!!
Richard

[BLiTZWiNG (Trent)]

Originally Posted by bkm2304

In fact, just had a look and according to the simulation, closest approach to earth is August 18 20011 at just 0.0767 AU or about 11 million km.

While I hope to live longer than average, I still don't think I'm going to be around in the year 20,011

[CometGuy]

I've had a closer look at upcoming predicted comets.

Firstly, I don't think that 45P will be much to look at as even though it will be very close to earth in August, it will only have begun to activate and will be tough to see. At the time it would likely be a very diffuse 9th magnitude object. It then approaches the sun and may reach mag 6-7, but then will be too low to be seen from our latitudes.

2009P1 is more interesting and might be visible to the naked eye from a really dark sky around the same time. In October it seems that it might attain mag 5, but then is in the far northern skies and invisible from Australia.

The most interesting comet encounter I can find in the next decade is the 2018 return of Comet 46P/Wirtanen which is one of the more intrinsically bright short period comets. In December of 2018 it passes just 0.08 AU from the earth, and being a much brighter Comet than 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova, could become quite an obvious naked eye comet. In fact based on the return in 2008 might reach magnitude 3. Although one must remember this will be a somewhat large diffuse comet.

However, more likely the next really nice comet will be one that is not predicted. By really nice comet I mean at least magnitude 3-4 with a bright tail. Such comets appear about every 2 years if recent decades are any indication.

Terry

[bkm2304 (Richard Brown)]

Originally Posted by BLiTZWiNG

While I hope to live longer than average, I still don't think I'm going to be around in the year 20,011

D'Oh! I meant 2011 - darn wonky keyboard can't cope with my advanced one finger typing! Must be Gremlins!