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Monday, April 03, 2006

 

Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann is coming!

Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann is potentially the best comet for a while, and it will be visible to the unaided eye in late April, being brightest in early May (probably between magnitudes 2 and 3, basically a fuzzy dot). However, Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann is actually a series of comets, as the original comet broke up around 1995/1996. The unaided eye comet I referred to is actually Fragment C, Fragment B will be visible in binoculars, and there is a range of fragments which will be visible in small telescopes. All in all this procession will be interesting to watch. For some lovely first images of these comets, see here and here.

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