Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Comet 2P Encke visible in binoculars
The eastern horizon at nautical twilight (and hor and a half before sunrise) as seen from the southern hemisphere (click on chart to enlarge it).Comet 2P Encke is a short period comet that returns every 3.3 years. It was the second comet to be determined to be a returning comet.
Comet Encke's return isn't particlularly favorable this year, you can now see it in 10x50 binoculars, low on the eastern horizon at astronomical twilight. Unfortunately, while the comet is relatively bright, the Moon is also fairly bright, and may make spotting the fuzzy dot of Encke rather more difficult than it should be. By the time the Moon goes, the comet will be close to the threshold of binocular visibilty (mag 8). Still, its worth a try.
Labels: 2P Encke, Astronomy, binocular, comets
# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 7:31 pm 
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