With so much going on it the world right now, we often do forget to look up and beyond. I know for most part Birmingham is covered with a whole heap of clouds but the weather has been and is getting better; now is the perfect opportunity to keep an eye (or scope) out for Comet SWAN
Comet Swan will be visible in UK skies from tonight, astronomers are saying people might even be able to see it with the naked eye.
The comet was discovered by Michael Mattiazzo of Swan Hill, Australia, in images taken on 25 March by the Solar Wind ANisotropies (SWAN) camera on board ESA and NASA’s SOHO spacecraft. The icy space rock, which has an official name of C/2020 F8, glows with a green-tinged light of ionised gas.
The comet will be gracing the UK’s skies during May and into June, having come closest to Earth on 13 May, before continuing to move closer to the Sun on 27 May – getting brighter in the process.
Astronomy Now says “It’s been present in Southern Hemisphere skies for some time, with astrophotographers producing some cracking images that show it sporting a superbly structured tail over five degrees in length. The most up to date light-curve indicates that the comet appears to have peaked in visual brightness at around magnitude +4.6 at the end of April and into early May, although CCD observations have the comet about a magnitude fainter at this time.”
Comets are fragile objects, and can often break apart as they approach the Sun. We have seen this with previous Comets breaking into a variety of fragments. The ESA (European Space Agency) states “Comet SWAN is now entering the ‘danger zone’ and will reach its closest point to the Sun on 27 May – at this time, the solar heating will be at its maximum.”
The ESA then further explain “It can be extremely difficult to predict the behaviour of comets that make such close approaches to the Sun, but scientists are hopeful that Comet SWAN will remain bright enough to see as it continues its journey. If the comet survives, star gazers on Earth should look for it near the bright star Capella in the constellation of Auriga, the Charioteer. This is almost certainly the only time the comet will be visible in our lifetimes: estimates are not yet fully precise, but it is clear that the comet’s orbital period is measured in thousands or even millions of years.”
Lucky viewers may even be able to see Comet SWAN with the naked eye alone but the bright twilight sky and the low altitude of SWAN won’t make this easy.Â
This image below shows the path of the Comet across the evening sky in the UK in May and June 2020.
More information?
Phys.Org
Astronomy Now
European Space Agency
