[BAA-ebulletin 00886] Comet C/2013 US10 (Catalina) on its way to our skies
(c) 2015 British Astronomical Association http://www.britastro.org/
This comet has been recovered following solar conjunction and it should soon become visible low in the dawn twilight from northern latitudes. It could become a naked-eye object through December and over the Christmas period.
The BAA has just issued circular 835 which provides information on observing this comet. Members can download this from here:
https://britastro.org/downloads/3843 (BAA member's login required)
There is also a news item based on the Circular here:
https://britastro.org/node/6790 (Available to all)
Nick James. Director, BAA Comet Section.
Today's APOD ( http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap151207.html ) shows the comet. It's an interesting looking object.
Looks like someone is zapping it with a ray gun making the tail shoot off!
It's bizarre the way the tail is split, I thought both tails were supposed to point away from the Sun due to the solar wind. I wonder why this one is so different.
Carole
The dust tail lags. The ion tail doesn't (much). The comet has just swung round the Sun, but quite a bit of the dust tail was swept off the comet earlier in the orbit, and was pushed away from the comet in a different direction initially. The angle we're seeing the comet from accentuates this.
I'm setting my alarm for 5am :)
Mark
Be interested to see whether you got any images this morning. Enough haziness here to make it difficult to see diffuse objects with binoculars...
Yesterday's APOD (http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap151212.html) and today's EPOD (http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2015/12/comet-catalina-c2013-us10-and-conjunction-of-the-moon-and-venus.html) give different kinds of views...