Comet LINEAR Suddenly Brightens

Astronomers are reporting an unexpected outburst by comet C/2012 X1 (LINEAR), although it is not clear whether the object is breaking up or whether a bright jet of material is simply blasting copious quantities of gas and dust into space.

Veteran comet hunters Ernesto Guido, Nick Howes and Martino Nicolini used a remote controlled telescope located in New Mexico to observe the spherical explosion on Oct. 21, revealing a bright coma exhibiting a 100-fold brightness increase. The comet is currently 450 million kilometers (approximately 3 AU) from Earth in the constellation Coma Berenices.

“The predicted magnitude of the comet on Oct. 20th was about +14,” Guido told Spaceweather.com. “Now it is close to +8.5.”

More & Video - Link >>> http://news.discovery.com/space/astronomy/comet-explosion-observed-is-it-doomed-131022.htm

Sources: The Discovery Channel, SpaceWeather.com .

Want to receive SpaceWatchtower blog posts in your inbox ?
Send request to < spacewatchtower@planetarium.cc >..

gaw

Glenn A. Walsh, Project Director,
Friends of the Zeiss < http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/fotz/ >
Electronic Mail - < gawalsh@planetarium.cc >
About the SpaceWatchtower Editor/Author: < http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/#GAW >
SpaceWatchtower Blog: < http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/ >
Also see: South Hills Backyard Astronomers Blog: < http://shbastronomers.blogspot.com/ >
SPACE & SCIENCE NEWS, ASTRONOMICAL CALENDAR:
< http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/#news >
Twitter: < https://twitter.com/spacewatchtower >
Facebook: < http://www.facebook.com/pages/SpaceWatchtower/238017839577841?sk=wall >
Author of History Web Sites on the Internet --
* Buhl Planetarium, Pittsburgh:
  < http://www.planetarium.cc >
* Adler Planetarium, Chicago:
  < http://adlerplanetarium.tripod.com >
* Astronomer, Educator, Optician John A. Brashear:
  < http://johnbrashear.tripod.com >
* Andrew Carnegie & Carnegie Libraries:
  < http://www.andrewcarnegie.cc >
* Civil War Museum of Andrew Carnegie Free Library:
  < http://garespypost.tripod.com >
* Duquesne Incline cable-car railway, Pittsburgh:
  < http://inclinedplane.tripod.com >
* Public Transit:
  < http://andrewcarnegie2.tripod.com/transit >