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When it comes to kites, the only sure thing is the orbital path. Although the cosmos has not yet sent us a For real Brilliant Kite for 2020 to keep us busy during the ongoing pandemic and blockade worldwide, it has sent us a steady stream of binocular descent kites including C / 2017 T2 PanSTARRS, C / 2019 Y1 ATLAS and C / 2019 Y4 ATLAS . And although Y4 ATLAS will not coincide with the media hype of the “Comet of the century”, another interesting binocular comet just announced its presence last weekend: C / 2020 F8 SWAN.
Comet Y4 ATLAS broke its superior performance trend early last week, disintegrating into several chunks as observers watched. This is not unusual, especially when a comet approaches the Sun. We all remember the painful C / 2012 S1 ISON saga on US Thanksgiving. USA 2013. Astronomer Karl Battams of the US Naval Research Laboratory. USA He called him in mid-March and stated, “I am still concerned that this kite is not completely happy with the conditions.” is facing, and it could vanish, “in Twitter.
And as is also common with new comets, Y4 ATLAS became the center of many unwarranted exaggerations before the breakup, and many media outlets exclaimed that it could become a “great comet in daylight as bright as the Moon. “(spoiler alert: won ‘t). Some of this was due to the comet’s brightness before predictions in March, and its orbital similarities, and its likely relationship to the 1844 comet.
Y4 ATLAS separated 1.4 Astronomical Units (AU) from the Sun when it crossed the Camelopardalis constellation. Its brightness has already been affected, fading to its full magnitude down to +8.5. It remains to be seen if we have anything to recover during the comet’s appearance in the early hours of May, but the prospects are not good.
Comet SWAN
But the cosmos has another comment letter up its sleeve. Rumors abounded last weekend of an already bright comet found approaching from the sun as seen by a solar observation spacecraft. This is not an unusual event; For example, Comet C / 1948 V1 was discovered by shocked Earth observers during a total solar eclipse while close to the Sun at an already bright magnitude -2.
The Minor Planet Center at Harvard finally released Circular 2020-G94 on Sunday night, announcing the discovery of Comet C / 2020 F8 SWAN. The comet was discovered on March 25.th images from the SWAN (Solar Wind Anisotropies) camera aboard the Solar Heliospheric Observer (SOHO) spacecraft.
F8 SWAN was discovered while deep in the skies of the southern hemisphere 1.77 AU away. Currently shining in +8 magnitude in the Grus the Crane constellation, the comet will pass closer to Earth 0.556 AU (51.7 million miles) away on May 13th , moving approximately two degrees (four times the diameter of the full moon) per day. The comet then reaches perihelion soon after, on May 27.
It seems that we either saw the exploding comet for the first time, and / or it is an intrinsically large shiny object, another plus.
With a steep orbit tilted 111 degrees relative to the ecliptic plane, Comet F8 SWAN is in an orbit with 10,000-year access. The comet may also be making its first visit to the inner solar system, meaning it is dynamically new and prone to many bursts as it first approaches the heat of the inner solar system.
For mid-latitude observers from the northern hemisphere, the best time to catch this comet is in mid to late May, northeast at sunrise. Ironically, the comet will greet what’s left of Comet Y4 ATLAS in the same region of the sky on May 22.
Here’s our look at the heavenly destiny dates this spring for Comet F8 SWAN:
April
(Unless otherwise
noted: a closed pass is one grade or less)
16-Crosses in the constellation Sculptor
18-Passes +4.4 magnitude Gamma Sculptoris
23-Passes at 18 degrees from the southern galactic pole
26-crosses in the constellation Aquarius the Water Carrier
30-Passes in the constellation Cetus
May
May 1 break +6th
magnitude
4-Passes +3.5 magnitude Iota Ceti
5-Nickes the corner of the constellation Pisces the fish
6-Crosses back to the constellation of Cetus the Whale
7-Cross the
celestial equator to the north
8-Crosses back to the Pisces constellation
9-Cross the
ecliptic to the north
12-Photo-op: passes 2 degrees from +3.4 magnitude Eta Piscium and the Messier 74 galaxy
13-Passes closest to Earth 0.556 AU (51.7 million miles) away
14-Hit the corner of the constellation Aries the Ram
15-Crosses in the constellation Triangulum
16-Photo op: pass 6 degrees from the Messier 33 galaxy
May 17 butt in
+4th magnitude
18-Crosses in the constellation of Perseus
19-Passes +4.2 magnitude 16 Persei
20-Passes 14 ‘from +2 Algol of magnitude
22-Passes at 5 degrees of the comet Y4 ATLAS
26-Reaches its northernmost point (declination +46 degrees)
27-Scope
perihelion at 0.429 AU (39.9 million miles) from the Sun
29-Cross the
galactic plane north
30-Crosses to Auriga
June
1-Passes close
Capella
May 15 return
below +6th magnitude
16 passes +2.6 magnitude Theta Auriga
29-Passes less than
10 degrees from the sun
30 drops below +10th magnitude
One can only imagine the spectacle of two brilliant kites at sunrise. Remember waaaay when in the late 90’s, when Comets Hyakutake and Hale-Bopp adorned the northern skies in a rapid-fire succession? It can be argued that we have yet to have a very bright comet in the northern hemisphere since the advent of digital astrophotography. Despite the player’s fallacy, we are bound.
If there is a responsibility you can assign to the Universe, it seems to be making fun of us, without solar activity, without meteor showers and without eclipse to keep astronomers and sky watchers busy. Perhaps tracing this current chain of binocular kites will prove to be a worthy pursuit.
Main image: recently discovered Comet C / 2020 F8 SWAN, photographed using the remote Q56 Live telescope in Australia. Image credit: E. Guido, M. Rocchetto and A. Valvasori.
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