Comet Lulin May Become Visible to Naked Eye

Image: Karzaman Ahmad in Malaysia with a 20-inch scope
Spaceweather.com

Comet C/2007 N2 (aka Lulin) was discovered last year by astronomers working for the Lulin Sky project sky survey. At the time of this post, it is not yet visible to the naked eye. It is still only a Magnitude 11 object. So it will a decent telescope with tracking software and a drive to find.

The comet was discovered last year by the Lulin Sky Survey. This sky survey is a cooperative effort between astronomers from both China and Taiwan. The centerpiece of the program is a 16 inch telescope located at Lulin Observatory at National Central University in Taiwan. The programs goal was to find and track minor bodies in our solar system such as comets and asteroids.

The comet is moving through Scorpio and will make a quick trek across the sky over the coming months. Its closest approach to the Earth will be on February 24th. At that time it should be easily identifiable through binoculars. It may even become visible to the naked eye when it makes its closest pass to earth. Since it is approaching the sun, a tail should also be seen.

An interesting aspect of this comet is that it is orbiting nearly on the ecliptic, but is traveling backwards! Because of this strange orbit, and the comets proximity to the ecliptic, it will appear to have two tails, each pointing in the opposite direction, as seen in the image above which is brought to you courtesy of Spaceweather.com. Karzaman Ahmad in Malaysia captured this image the a 20-inch scope