A newly discovered comet has brightened enough to be visible this week with binoculars. The picturesque comet [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] is already becoming a favored target for northern sky imagers. Pictured above [
http://www.astrostu…] just last week, Comet SWAN showed a bright blue-green coma and an impressive tail. Comet C/2006 M4 (SWAN) [
http://cometography…] was discovered in June in public images from the Solar Wind Anisotropies [
http://www.fmi.fi/r…] (SWAN) instrument of NASA and ESA [
http://en.wikipedia…]'s Sun-orbiting SOHO [
http://sohowww.nasc…] spacecraft. Comet [
http://en.wikipedia…] SWAN, near magnitude six, will be visible with binoculars in the northeastern sky not far from the Big Dipper over the next few days before dawn. The comet [
http://www.aerith.n…] is expected to reach its peak brightness this week. Passing its closest to the Sun two days ago, Comet SWAN [
http://ssd.jpl.nasa…] and will be at its closest to the Earth toward the end of this month. Comet SWAN's unusual orbit [
http://cfa-www.harv…] appears to be hyperbolic [ http://adsabs.harvar d.edu/abs/1992A&A... 259..692K ], meaning that it will likely go off into interstellar space [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…], never to return.
Explanation
A newly discovered comet has brightened enough to be visible this week with binoculars. The picturesque comet [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…] is already becoming a favored target for northern sky imagers. Pictured above [
http://www.astrostu…] just last week, Comet SWAN showed a bright blue-green coma and an impressive tail. Comet C/2006 M4 (SWAN) [
http://cometography…] was discovered in June in public images from the Solar Wind Anisotropies [
http://www.fmi.fi/r…] (SWAN) instrument of NASA and ESA [
http://en.wikipedia…]'s Sun-orbiting SOHO [
http://sohowww.nasc…] spacecraft. Comet [
http://en.wikipedia…] SWAN, near magnitude six, will be visible with binoculars in the northeastern sky not far from the Big Dipper over the next few days before dawn. The comet [
http://www.aerith.n…] is expected to reach its peak brightness this week. Passing its closest to the Sun two days ago, Comet SWAN [
http://ssd.jpl.nasa…] and will be at its closest to the Earth toward the end of this month. Comet SWAN's unusual orbit [
http://cfa-www.harv…] appears to be hyperbolic [ http://adsabs.harvar d.edu/abs/1992A&A... 259..692K ], meaning that it will likely go off into interstellar space [
http://antwrp.gsfc.…], never to return.
Explanation
