A crumbling comet will soon pass near the Earth. Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wach mann 3 [ http://science.nasa…] is brightening and may even be visible to the unaided eye [ http://webvision.me…] when the fragmented comet [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] zooms past Earth during the middle of next month. Still, the small comet poses no Earth hazard [ http://liftoff.msfc…], since it will pass the Earth at about 25 times the distance of the Moon. Exactly how bright Comet Schwassman-Wachmann 3 [ http://en.wikipedia…] will get is unknown. It is even possible, althought unlikely, that debris from the comet [ http://cometography…] will have spread out enough to cause a notable meteor shower [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. Pictured above [ http://www.eso.org/…], Fragment B of Comet Schwassman-Wachmann 3 [ http://www.eso.org/…] was photographed two nights ago by a 8.2-meter Very Large Telescope [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] in Chile [ http://en.wikipedia…]. Visible [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…http://www.space.co…] to the lower right of the large B fragment are many mini-comets that have broken off and now orbit the Sun separately. Each mini-comet itself sheds gas and dust and so appears to have its own hazy coma. The comet [ http://skyandtelesc…] will pass closest to the Sun on June 7.
Explanation
A crumbling comet will soon pass near the Earth. Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wach mann 3 [ http://science.nasa…] is brightening and may even be visible to the unaided eye [ http://webvision.me…] when the fragmented comet [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] zooms past Earth during the middle of next month. Still, the small comet poses no Earth hazard [ http://liftoff.msfc…], since it will pass the Earth at about 25 times the distance of the Moon. Exactly how bright Comet Schwassman-Wachmann 3 [ http://en.wikipedia…] will get is unknown. It is even possible, althought unlikely, that debris from the comet [ http://cometography…] will have spread out enough to cause a notable meteor shower [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. Pictured above [ http://www.eso.org/…], Fragment B of Comet Schwassman-Wachmann 3 [ http://www.eso.org/…] was photographed two nights ago by a 8.2-meter Very Large Telescope [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] in Chile [ http://en.wikipedia…]. Visible [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…http://www.space.co…] to the lower right of the large B fragment are many mini-comets that have broken off and now orbit the Sun separately. Each mini-comet itself sheds gas and dust and so appears to have its own hazy coma. The comet [ http://skyandtelesc…] will pass closest to the Sun on June 7.
