The Great Christmas Comet of 2011, 2011 W3 (Lovejoy) |
The Great Christmas Comet of 2011, 2011 W3 (Lovejoy) |
Guest_Sunspot_* |
Dec 2 2011, 09:59 PM
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Guests |
http://sungrazer.nrl.navy.mil/index.php?p=.../birthday_comet
Possible very bright sungrazing comet coming mid December - Comet Lovejoy C/2011 W3 (Lovejoy) Information in the link above. |
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Dec 23 2011, 10:42 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 723 Joined: 13-June 04 Member No.: 82 |
From Robert McNaught, comet-ml post #19047:
QUOTE Despite a huge downpour of rain around midday, the humidity after midnight was sufficiently low that once the cloud passed, there was no fog or significant orographic cloud. My initial impression as the comet was rising was that it was less bright than on Dec 21, leaving me a little disappointed. However once the full extent of the comet was visible, it continues to be awesome! Unlike Vello, I do suspect an overall fading, although it did appear to be a bit higher surface brightness than the LMC. A scan with 10x50B really didn't show much structure, although the gas tail was more evident in the binoculars than to the naked eye. In 20x120B there is no sign of any condensation. Instead a little "spine" is evident (more on this later). The overall tail length from the photos is 21.7 deg for the dust tail and much the same for the dust. Averted imagination could make it longer, but I think lines of stars are being misleading. QUOTE So just what is happening at the heart of the comet? My interpretation, which I fully admit is from a position of ignorance, would be that there is an intact nucleus. This is based on the "spine" coming to a sharp point close to the the parabolic hood. If it were dissipating I would have expected the spine to be more diffused and for the parabolic hood to diffuse with it. There will be plenty of folks here that interpret the situation more reliably than me, but it certainly doesn't seem to be a Shetland comet ;-) (that's a Scottish joke). Until tomorrow night. Cheers, Rob He also linked to several outstanding photos that he had taken: |
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