To quote:
2006 sees the possible return of 26 periodic comets and several of these are likely to come within range of visual observation with moderate apertures. Potentially, the most exciting is the close passage of 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann in May.
Theories on the structure of comets suggest that any comet could fragment at any time, so it is worth keeping an eye on some of the fainter periodic comets, which are often ignored. This would make a useful project for CCD observers. As an example 51P/Harrington was observed to fragment in 2001. Ephemerides for new and currently observable comets are published in the Circulars, Comet Section Newsletters and on the Section, CBAT and Seiichi Yoshida's web pages. Complete ephemerides and magnitude parameters for all comets predicted to be brighter than about 21m are given in the International Comet Quarterly Handbook; details of subscription to the ICQ are available from the comet section Director. The updated section booklet on comet observing is available from the BAA office or the Director.
http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~jds/preds06.htm
Are there any plans to explore comets that have broken apart? Forget a single copper ball making a crater that no one could see into anyway - we could examine up close bodies literally split right through for us already!
This was one of the main goals of CONTOUR -- SW-3, its second destination, had broken into three pieces just a few years earlier, and they anticipated flying by one of them and getting a nice cross-sectional view. (Near-IR spectra suggested that the biggest piece had one side made of different materials, probably exposed by the rupture.) The trouble now is that SW-3 is apparently continuing to crumble, and there may be nothing left to look at by the next opportunity to fly by it in 2017-2022.
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