Quote:
Originally Posted by jami cat
I saw that it was closest to Jupiter in 1970ish...Next will be after 2020.
Wonder if it took Earth 30 years for it too have a Jello-Like-Quake from the Jupiter encounter...after all 30 years is an astronomically small measure of time...and it's orbit does coincide with Jupiter several times in it's History.
(and don't tell me, "That's the Shakiest Theory I've have ever heard ") :P
New update: It will be closest to Earth next time around ...2012... http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=17p&orb=1 |
Naw, the shakiest theory is that somewhere on that "comet", there's an XO metaphorically on his knees before his Captain, saying "Yes, sir, but they never noticed us doing orbital correction burns before..."
This is an odd one, tho. I was just out about fifteen minutes ago looking at it, and it's distinctly green from here (it's been variously reported as green, yellow-green or yellowish). Really easy to spot, despite the full moon nearby (to anyone familiar with Perseus it stands out of course) and very distinctly green to the naked eye from my semi-dark location. Some high altitude haze tonite but it's not having any effects on the nearby stars that I can tell.
That's with the naked eye, even. (Green? and Bright? Weird. ) Thru the 10x50s it's even more green and more impressive, with hints of internal structure.
The color bothers me. Not because it appears to be that color, but because of the the brightness. Anyone have any links to a spectral analysis yet? In nearly thirty years of being an astronomy nut I've never heard of anything like this. It's an odd duck, indeed.
Also, does anyone know how stable it's orbit is? It's also fairly uncommon to find a comet this close to the sun with a stable orbit producing outbursts like this, if I remember correctly.
Cheers all, and Hi
Andy