Earth is
getting a special celestial visitor this week in the shape of comet C/2018 Y1
Iwamoto - this sparkling, green-hued hunk of ice and minerals is already
visible in the night sky through telescopes and even binoculars.
It's the
first binocular comet of 2019 – which means a comet that's visible from Earth
through binoculars, as you might have guessed from the name; we only get a few
of them each year.
This
particular comet was only discovered a couple of months ago – credit due to
amateur astronomer Masayuki Iwamoto – and the icy rock is calculated to take
1,371 years to orbit the Sun on a stretched out, elliptical path.
The closest
C/2018 Y1 Iwamoto is going to get to us is 45 million kilometres (or 28 million
miles): that's 2.5 light-minutes, or around 118 times further out than the
Moon. Thanks to its distinctive green glow though, you can spot it using your
own equipment.
Why the
glow? It's typical of comets like C/2018 Y1 Iwamoto, and it's caused by the
heat and radiation from the Sun – those forces create a comet coma, as melted
ice from its surface releases gas and dust that are made visible to the human
eye when they get struck by ultraviolet light out in space.
Last year
this effect was so prominent in one passing comet that it got named The
Incredible Hulk. The new rock isn't quite so angry, but should still be
visible.
Head over to
In-The-Sky.org for a useful finder chart that can help you pinpoint exactly
where the Iwamoto comet is going to be on the day you're reading this, so you
can maximise your chances of catching a glimpse.
Iwamoto
comet and the Sombrero Galaxy
Comet C/2018
Y1 Iwamoto top left, with the Messier 104 spiral galaxy bottom right. (Ian
Griffin/Otago Museum)
Better be
quick with your telescope and camera though: the celestial body is zooming
around the Solar System at roughly 238,000 kilometres per hour (or 148,000
miles per hour). It's not going to stick around forever.
The comet
has just passed the Sun, and here on Earth it will be seen travelling through
the constellations of Leo, Cancer and Gemini, before it leaves our sight and
shoots towards the outer reaches of the Solar System again.
Technically,
it's what's known as an Extreme Trans-Neptunian Object, a collection of objects
way, way beyond Pluto – reaching perhaps as many as five times further away
from the Sun as the dwarf planet.
We'd really
encourage you to get out into the garden and have a spy at C/2018 Y1 Iwamoto as
it passes though: it's not scheduled to return to the inner Solar System until
the year 3390.
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