From: Terry Colvin <fortean1.nul>
Date: Thu, 5 Feb 2009 15:52:29 +0700 (GMT+07:00)
Archived: Thu, 05 Feb 2009 07:23:28 -0500
Subject: Green Comet Approaches Earth


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Source: NASA - Washington, DC, USA

http://tinyurl.com/b4vnc3

02.04.2009


Green Comet Approaches Earth

February 4, 2009: In 1996, a 7-year-old boy in China bent over
the eyepiece of a small telescope and saw something that would
change his life - a comet of flamboyant beauty, bright and puffy
with an active tail. At first he thought he himself had
discovered it, but no, he learned, two men named "Hale" and
"Bopp" had beat him to it. Mastering his disappointment, young
Quanzhi Ye resolved to find his own comet one day.

And one day, he did.

Fast forward to a summer afternoon in July 2007. Ye, now 19
years old and a student of meteorology at China's Sun Yat-sen
University, bent over his desk to stare at a black-and-white
star field. The photo was taken nights before by Taiwanese
astronomer Chi Sheng Lin on "sky patrol" at the Lulin
Observatory. Ye's finger moved from point to point - and
stopped. One of the stars was not a star, it was a comet, and
this time Ye saw it first.

Comet Lulin, named after the observatory in Taiwan where the
discovery-photo was taken, is now approaching Earth. "It is a
green beauty that could become visible to the naked eye any day
now," says Ye.

Amateur astronomer Jack Newton sends this photo from his
backyard observatory in Arizona:

"My retired eyes still cannot see the brightening comet," says
Newton, "but my 14-inch telescope picked it up quite nicely on
Feb. 1st."

The comet makes its closest approach to Earth (0.41 AU) on Feb.
24, 2009. Current estimates peg the maximum brightness at 4th or
5th magnitude, which means dark country skies would be required
to see it. No one can say for sure, however, because this
appears to be Lulin's first visit to the inner solar system and
its first exposure to intense sunlight. Surprises are possible.

Lulin's green color comes from the gases that make up its
Jupiter-sized atmosphere. Jets spewing from the comet's nucleus
contain cyanogen (CN: a poisonous gas found in many comets) and
diatomic carbon (C2). Both substances glow green when
illuminated by sunlight

[More...]

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Terry W. Colvin
Ladphrao (Bangkok), Thailand
Pran Buri (Hua Hin), Thailand