[extropy-chat] comet C/2001 Q4 (NEAT)

[Amara Graps]

Neat is fading fast but still a pretty sight. It is located just
next to the Beehive Cluster from our perspective here in Earth.
The combination of the two make for a beautiful composition-
expect to see such photographs in the astronomy magazines during
the next few months.

You can see the comet with your naked eye, but it is helpful to
locate it in binoculars first because otherwise you are not really
sure if 'that fuzzy spot' is the comet. I can see it over the
washed out skies above Rome, but not easily. I saw it, clearly in
the Alpini last weekend, under dark and cold and clear skies.

To find it: go to the brightest object in the sky after sunset:
Venus. Then follow it up the sky to the stars Castor and Pollux
in Gemini. Take the distance between Castor and Pollux, and
multiply it about two or three times towards the left. Do you see
a couple of fuzzy spots very close to each other? One is the
Beehive Cluster of stars. The other is comet Neat.

Comet Neat is well, pretty neat now. It might look a little bit
greenish to your binocular-eyes. There is almost no tail to be
seen with your eye, but I saw several amateur astronomers last
weekend adding up images, and, after not-too-many images, the tail
is clear. There is one tail- the ion tail, straight-as-can-be.
I didn't see a dust tail though.

words of recent observations here (C/2001 Q4 (NEAT))
http://encke.jpl.nasa.gov/RecentObs.html

some photographs of Neat here
http://cometography.com/lcomets/2001q4.html


While you're looking, don't forget to check out Saturn and Jupiter.
They are located in a line from Venus (Can you guess why?)

Amara

-- 

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Amara Graps, PhD
Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario, CNR - ARTOV,
Via del Fosso del Cavaliere, 100, I-00133 Roma, ITALIA
tel: +39-06-4993-4375       |fax:  +39-06-4993-4383
Amara.Graps at ifsi.rm.cnr.it  | http://www.mpi-hd.mpg.de/dustgroup/~graps
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I'M SIGNIFICANT!...screamed the dust speck. -- Calvin