New comet in the skies... and possible visible with the naked eye

[Candlelight]

My friend just sent me this info:

APPROACHING COMET: Comet Lulin (C/2007 N3), discovered in 2007 by a Strait-bridging team of astronomers from Taiwan and China, is swinging around the sun and approaching Earth. Right now, Comet Lulin is gliding through the constellation Libra in the southeastern sky before dawn. It glows like an 8th magnitude star, so a mid-sized backyard telescope is required to see it. Visibility will improve in February as the Earth-comet distance shrinks. At closest approach (0.41 AU) on February 24th, the comet should brighten to about 5th magnitude--dimly visible to the unaided eye and an easy target for binoculars.
Surprises are possible. The near-parabolic orbit of Comet Lulin suggests this could be the comet's first visit to the inner solar system. How it will react to increasing sunlight is anyone's guess. Stay tuned for updates in the weeks ahead.

*gets the telescope out of the garage*

 

[Mallory]

Big comets are always cool. I hope I get to see another one in my lifetime.

 

[tomalak301]

Big comets are always cool. I hope I get to see another one in my lifetime.

Same here. I think the last time I saw a comet was the Hailbob comet in the mid 90s. It launched a Cult as far as I remember. I also love going up to a place where you can pretty much see the entire galaxy and you can see shooting stars. Those are awesome too.

 

[Warp Core Breach]

Photos

Skymap

This one looks like it might be a good binocular target.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Comets are cool, as long as they're not harbingers of doom.

 

[Australis]

I missed that one last year (clouds etc for days on end).

But I remember my Dad getting me up to see one back in '65-'66, which I've since figured out was Comet Bennett.

Hold you rm out in front of you, open thumb and pointer to almost as far as they can go. That's how big it was, with tail, frozen above the horizon just before the sun rose. It's one of the coolest things I've ever seen.

Hope to see another one like that.

But not, as said above, a harbinger of doom.