William Atkins
Thursday, 05 February 2009 02:44
Science -
Space
Page 1 of 3
We all can see with our naked eyes the Comet Lulin as is approaches the Earth in February 2009. What makes this comet fascinating is its green color, which comes from the gases that make up its atmosphere as it races through the vacuum of outer space and approaches the heat of the Sun.
On July 11, 2007 Chinese astronomer Quanzhi Ye was observing the sky from his location at the Lulin Observatory at Sun Yat-sen University (Guangzhou, China).
Ye was using sky charts from Lin Chi-Sheng (Institute of Astronomy, National Central University, Jung-Li, Taiwan).
The nineteen-year-old meteorology student was looking at stars when he suddenly noticed one of them wasn’t a star.
It was a comet. And a very special comet, too, for two reasons.
First, it was an undiscovered comet. As the result of this first-time sighting, the non-periodic comet is named after the observatory in which it was discovered.
Second, it has a very distinctive color. The Lulin Comet (also called Comet C/2007 N3) is described by its discoverer Quanzhi Ye as,
“It is a green beauty that could become visible to the naked eye any day now.” [Science @ NASA (February 4, 2009): "
Green Comet Approaches Earth”]
The comet is quickly approaching Earth. Its closest approach will be on February 24, 2009, at about 0.41 astronomical units (AU) from Earth. One AU is the average distance between the Earth and the Sun.
Page two states the approximate distance away the Comet Lulin will be to Earth.
