14 DAY TRIAL // Astronomers have issued an announcement saying that amateur skywatchers have a chance to see a fairly bright comet streaking past in the night sky.
The object, designated Comet 103P/Hartley 2, will pass through its point of closest approach to Earth tomorrow, October 20, and will become visible to people using telescopes or binoculars.
In order to benefit from the best viewing experience, experts urge those interested to find a vantage point as far away as possible from cities, as light pollution is known to make certain dimmer objects invisible to observers on the ground.
If the weather does not deteriorate, then the comet should become visible right in the middle of bright circle of stars that astronomers say is part of the constellation Auriga.
This is a rather rare opportunity in which a comet that is relatively bright can be seen from Earth. Generally, the space bodies are too small to reflect back sufficient light so as to become visible from our planet.
Instances such as this one occur once every five or six years. Even if astronomers detect comets in advance, there is now way of knowing precisely how bright the objects will appear from Earth until they actually zip past.
According to Space, the best possible viewing experience is with 10x50 through 20x80 binoculars, or with telescopes set a the lowest level of magnification possible.
Astronomers say that Hartley 2 will be closest to Earth tomorrow at 1900 GMT, and that it will pass closest to the Sun on October 28. After it slings past the star, it will head out into the outer solar system again.
But this comet is important for another reason as well. It is the target of the EPOXI mission, which is scheduled to carry out a close flyby of the structure at a distance of only 700 kilometers.
After performing calculations based on the latest measurements that the spacecraft sent back, mission controllers determined that the point of closest approach will be November 4, 2010, at 10:02 am EDT (7:02 am PDT).
“We are imaging the comet every day, and Hartley 2 is proving to be a worthy target for exploration,” argues the principal investigator for EPOXI, University of Maryland in College Park expert Mike A'Hearn.
The EPOXI mission uses the Deep Impact NASA space probe, which was launched on January 12, 2005 from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS), in Florida.
The spacecraft was initially used to probe the core of Comet 9P/Tempel, but it was later reassigned to study Hartley 2. The NASA Hubble and WISE telescopes are also keeping their eyes on the comet.