A comet discovered last year has brightened unexpectedly and now may become visible to the unaided eye within the next month. Designated Comet C/2003 K4 (LINEAR) [ http://cometography…], the comet was discovered in 2003 May by project LINEAR [ http://www.ll.mit.e…]. Many reports [ http://encke.jpl.na…] already place the comet as brighter than magnitude [ http://curious.astr…] 7, meaning that it can now be seen with binoculars. Reports also indicate the comet already has a visible tail [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] nearly the length of a full Moon [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. Since predicting the future brightness [ http://cfa-www.harv…] of comets is a very tricky business [ http://www.explorat…], there remains the possibility that K4 might never become very bright. Current predictions [ http://www.aerith.n…], however, estimate the comet may approach fifth magnitude in October. K4 passes [ http://www.skyhound…] closest to the Sun on October 12 and then closest to the Earth on December 23. Comet K4 was photographed above from Van Buren, Arkansas [ http://www.state.ar…], USA [ http://www.cia.gov/…] on August 17.
Explanation
A comet discovered last year has brightened unexpectedly and now may become visible to the unaided eye within the next month. Designated Comet C/2003 K4 (LINEAR) [ http://cometography…], the comet was discovered in 2003 May by project LINEAR [ http://www.ll.mit.e…]. Many reports [ http://encke.jpl.na…] already place the comet as brighter than magnitude [ http://curious.astr…] 7, meaning that it can now be seen with binoculars. Reports also indicate the comet already has a visible tail [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] nearly the length of a full Moon [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. Since predicting the future brightness [ http://cfa-www.harv…] of comets is a very tricky business [ http://www.explorat…], there remains the possibility that K4 might never become very bright. Current predictions [ http://www.aerith.n…], however, estimate the comet may approach fifth magnitude in October. K4 passes [ http://www.skyhound…] closest to the Sun on October 12 and then closest to the Earth on December 23. Comet K4 was photographed above from Van Buren, Arkansas [ http://www.state.ar…], USA [ http://www.cia.gov/…] on August 17.
