New comet might blaze brighter than the full Moon

"A new comet has been discovered that is predicted to
blaze incredibly brilliantly in the skies during late 2013.
With a perihelion passage of less than two million
kilometres from the Sun on 28 November 2013, current
predictions are of an object that will dazzle the eye at
up to magnitude —16. That's far brighter than the full
Moon. If predictions hold true then C/2012 S1 will
certainly be one of the greatest comets in human history,
far outshining the memorable Comet Hale-Bopp of 1997
and very likely to outdo the long-awaited Comet
Pan-STARRS (C/2011 L4) which is set to stun in March
2013."

See:

http://www.astronomynow.com/news/n1209/25comet/

On 27/09/2012 1:23 PM, wrote:
"A new comet has been discovered that is predicted to
blaze incredibly brilliantly in the skies during late 2013.
With a perihelion passage of less than two million
kilometres from the Sun on 28 November 2013, current
predictions are of an object that will dazzle the eye at
up to magnitude —16. That's far brighter than the full
Moon. If predictions hold true then C/2012 S1 will
certainly be one of the greatest comets in human history,
far outshining the memorable Comet Hale-Bopp of 1997
and very likely to outdo the long-awaited Comet
Pan-STARRS (C/2011 L4) which is set to stun in March
2013."

See:

http://www.astronomynow.com/news/n1209/25comet/


I remember not seeing comet Kohoutek which is memorable mainly for how
unmemorable it was.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_Kohoutek

So I'm not getting my hopes up with this one.

Sylvia.

On Wed, 26 Sep 2012 20:23:12 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

"A new comet has been discovered that is predicted to
blaze incredibly brilliantly in the skies during late 2013.
With a perihelion passage of less than two million
kilometres from the Sun on 28 November 2013, current
predictions are of an object that will dazzle the eye at
up to magnitude —16. That's far brighter than the full
Moon. If predictions hold true then C/2012 S1 will
certainly be one of the greatest comets in human history,
far outshining the memorable Comet Hale-Bopp of 1997
and very likely to outdo the long-awaited Comet
Pan-STARRS (C/2011 L4) which is set to stun in March
2013."

See:

http://www.astronomynow.com/news/n1209/25comet/

Northern hemisphre or yet another southern hemisphere dazzler with
nothing for those of us north of the equator?

Brian

wrote in message
...
"A new comet has been discovered that is predicted to
blaze incredibly brilliantly in the skies during late 2013.
With a perihelion passage of less than two million
kilometres from the Sun on 28 November 2013, current
predictions are of an object that will dazzle the eye at
up to magnitude -16. That's far brighter than the full
Moon. If predictions hold true then C/2012 S1 will
certainly be one of the greatest comets in human history,
far outshining the memorable Comet Hale-Bopp of 1997
and very likely to outdo the long-awaited Comet
Pan-STARRS (C/2011 L4) which is set to stun in March
2013."

See:

http://www.astronomynow.com/news/n1209/25comet/

............................


That sounds exciting, Hale.Bobb sure was pretty.
But there's no way it can be brighter than the full moon
not even a tenth of that. The full moon is almost a mirror
in comparison to a comet.

But if it's brighter than Hale-Bopp it'll be spectacular.
The darkest sky near me is the Everglades, driving
across it from Miami there's times when you're a good
40 miles from the nearest town or city in any direction.


s

On 29/09/2012 10:21 AM, jonathan wrote:
wrote in message
...
"A new comet has been discovered that is predicted to
blaze incredibly brilliantly in the skies during late 2013.
With a perihelion passage of less than two million
kilometres from the Sun on 28 November 2013, current
predictions are of an object that will dazzle the eye at
up to magnitude -16. That's far brighter than the full
Moon. If predictions hold true then C/2012 S1 will
certainly be one of the greatest comets in human history,
far outshining the memorable Comet Hale-Bopp of 1997
and very likely to outdo the long-awaited Comet
Pan-STARRS (C/2011 L4) which is set to stun in March
2013."

See:

http://www.astronomynow.com/news/n1209/25comet/

...........................


That sounds exciting, Hale.Bobb sure was pretty.
But there's no way it can be brighter than the full moon
not even a tenth of that. The full moon is almost a mirror
in comparison to a comet.

That's true of a typical comet core, which is going to be too small to
see anyway, but what about the material in the tail?

Sylvial.

"Sylvia Else" wrote in message
...
On 29/09/2012 10:21 AM, jonathan wrote:
wrote in message
...
"A new comet has been discovered that is predicted to
blaze incredibly brilliantly in the skies during late 2013.
With a perihelion passage of less than two million
kilometres from the Sun on 28 November 2013, current
predictions are of an object that will dazzle the eye at
up to magnitude -16. That's far brighter than the full
Moon. If predictions hold true then C/2012 S1 will
certainly be one of the greatest comets in human history,
far outshining the memorable Comet Hale-Bopp of 1997
and very likely to outdo the long-awaited Comet
Pan-STARRS (C/2011 L4) which is set to stun in March
2013."

See:

http://www.astronomynow.com/news/n1209/25comet/

...........................


That sounds exciting, Hale.Bobb sure was pretty.
But there's no way it can be brighter than the full moon
not even a tenth of that. The full moon is almost a mirror
in comparison to a comet.

That's true of a typical comet core, which is going to be too small to see
anyway, but what about the material in the tail?

I wasn't talking about the light reflecting off the core, that's
not even visible naked eye.

But the tail is still just a diffuse cloud, maybe the larger area
of the tail means more total light, and accounts for the predicted
magnitude, but you can read by the light of the full moon.
I don't see how a bright cloud so far away can compete
for brightness with the moon.





Sylvial.

On Thu, 27 Sep 2012 17:34:07 -0500, Brian Thorn
wrote, perhaps among other things:

On Wed, 26 Sep 2012 20:23:12 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

"A new comet has been discovered that is predicted to
blaze incredibly brilliantly in the skies during late 2013.
With a perihelion passage of less than two million
kilometres from the Sun on 28 November 2013, current
predictions are of an object that will dazzle the eye at
up to magnitude —16. That's far brighter than the full
Moon. If predictions hold true then C/2012 S1 will
certainly be one of the greatest comets in human history,
far outshining the memorable Comet Hale-Bopp of 1997
and very likely to outdo the long-awaited Comet
Pan-STARRS (C/2011 L4) which is set to stun in March
2013."

See:

http://www.astronomynow.com/news/n1209/25comet/

Northern hemisphre or yet another southern hemisphere dazzler with
nothing for those of us north of the equator?

Brian

Northern, I hear.
--

"One thing happened after another, and before
we knew it, we were dead"
-- Michael O'Donoghue

On 1/10/2012 1:58 AM, Paul Madarasz wrote:
On Thu, 27 Sep 2012 17:34:07 -0500, Brian Thorn
wrote, perhaps among other things:

On Wed, 26 Sep 2012 20:23:12 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

"A new comet has been discovered that is predicted to
blaze incredibly brilliantly in the skies during late 2013.
With a perihelion passage of less than two million
kilometres from the Sun on 28 November 2013, current
predictions are of an object that will dazzle the eye at
up to magnitude —16. That's far brighter than the full
Moon. If predictions hold true then C/2012 S1 will
certainly be one of the greatest comets in human history,
far outshining the memorable Comet Hale-Bopp of 1997
and very likely to outdo the long-awaited Comet
Pan-STARRS (C/2011 L4) which is set to stun in March
2013."

See:

http://www.astronomynow.com/news/n1209/25comet/

Northern hemisphre or yet another southern hemisphere dazzler with
nothing for those of us north of the equator?

Brian

Northern, I hear.


That'd be right. When I was living in the northern hemisphere,
everything interesting happened in the southern. Now that I live in the
southern hemisphere, the action's moved to the nothern.

Sylvia.

In sci.space.policy message 5a95df6b-df2d-48d0-950b-21837210a71c@ql4g20
00pbc.googlegroups.com, Wed, 26 Sep 2012 20:23:12,
posted:

"A new comet has been discovered that is predicted to
blaze incredibly brilliantly in the skies during late 2013.
With a perihelion passage of less than two million
kilometres from the Sun on 28 November 2013, current
predictions are of an object that will dazzle the eye at
up to magnitude —16. That's far brighter than the full
Moon.
"

That is a little naive, since unless the Sun is obscured by something
and the comet is not, and also the sky is sufficiently clear, one will
be already dazzled by the Mag -27 Sun so close to the Mag -16 comet.
After all, Mag -16 is only about 3.3 Mags brighter than the Moon, little
over 20 times as bright.

BTW, one wonders whether the perihelion distance given in the media is
measured from the centre or the surface of the Sun?

--
(c) John Stockton, nr London, UK. Mail via homepage. Turnpike v6.05 MIME.
Web http://www.merlyn.demon.co.uk/ - FAQqish topics, acronyms and links;
Astro stuff via astron-1.htm, gravity0.htm ; quotings.htm, pascal.htm, etc.