Comet 252/P LINEAR on its way......

[+Bino-viewer]

Hi guys.

 

Quick post. We have another comet heading our way !! After finally (it took me a while) managing to spot Comet Catalina late last year from EMS Belper darksite, another one will soon be visiting the Northern hemisphere. This one is designated 252P / Linear.

This is a periodic comet, which returns every 5.3 years and is one of the many comets discovered by the MIT (Massachusetts institute of technology) Lincoln laboratory 'Linear' survey : LIncoln Near Earth Asteroid Research. Its actually at perihelion today and 'only' 3.5 million miles away. At the end of the month it will be a morning object, fairly close to the moon & Saturn in the Scorpius / Sagitarrius area of the sky.

Check out the link : theres plenty of info on there with its positions from March 28 - April 6.

 

Not sure of the brightness on this one ; it was only expected to be around Mag 12, but its currently put on a burst and is not far off naked eye visibility.

Although its expected to fade during April, it should be a binocular object, and look better still with a scope. Happy hunting 

 

http://www.popastro.com/comet/news/newsdetail.php?id_nw=450

[Smithysteve]

Thanks Rob, it would be great if this blooms into a 'goer' for us northern hemisphere dwellers.

Fingers crossed!

cheers!

[+Bino-viewer]

It's a quickie......it won't be around for too long.

I'm even planing an early morning visit to Belper to see if i can image it on Mar 31 or Apr 1.

Should be a nice grouping with Linear, Saturn, Lunar & Mars in amongst Scorpio / Sagittarius.

 

I wonder how much of Scorpio i can see from Belper....?

[+DaveJW]

Just read that it is currently m4.5 so should be visible, but it's very low at the moment, though rising.

[+Bino-viewer]

Here's another link with a useful animation curtesy of Astronomy Now.

 

http://astronomynow.com/2016/03/27/see-comet-252p-emerge-in-the-uk-predawn-sky/