• Question: When is the next commet ?

    Asked by 454spaa48 to Heather, Helen, Hugh, Jane, Julian on 18 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Julian Onions

      Julian Onions answered on 18 Nov 2014:

      Comets are a bit irregular, so we never really know when they are going to come by us, and even if they do many of them never become very bright, at least not bright to see with our eyes.

      There are about 10 comets currently in our sky, but most need a very good telescope to see at all. There is one you might be able to see with binoculars on a very clear night.
      You can see it’s position here
      http://www.heavens-above.com/comet.aspx?cid=C%2F2013%20A1&
      but it won’t be easy to see.

    • Photo: Heather Campbell

      Heather Campbell answered on 18 Nov 2014:

      Just to add to Julians great answer, comets are on realy large usually elliptical orbits which big then in from the outer regions of our solar system, the Oort Cloud and Kuiper Belts where they are formed. Then we get to see then for a short while when they are nearer us in thier orbit and nearer the sun (closes point to the sun is called the “perihelion”) when thier tails become larger as the ice making up the comet is burning.

    • Photo: Helen Johnson

      Helen Johnson answered on 19 Nov 2014:

      These guys are right, we just don’t know really. Comets are on such long orbits that take them far, far away from the Sun that any we’ve seen in the past will take ages to make the return trip (Halley’s comet will come back around in 2061) or may never come back in our lifetime. We also don’t know how bright comets are going to get, even if we predict they’re going to be in the sky. Comet ISON this year was a bit of a disappointment, because it didn’t get very bright at all 🙁

Comments