A comet‘stale ...
How much of the world came to miss the
greatest comet in decades
(and what communicatingastronomy with the public
may have had to do with it)
Daniel FischerFG Kometen der VdSGermany
CAP 2007Athens
Early August 2006
An inconspiciousbeginning ...
● A most promising orbit for January 2007 ... ● ... but close to the Sun all the time ...● ... and predicting comet brightnesses is an art
The first daysof January 2007:early hopes andworries (onspecialist sites)
January 1: author says -6 ...m
A risky conundrum:• exceedingly rare event, but• only with very clear skies• and possibly dangerous! -> hardly mentioned at all
January 14:perihelion!-5.5 mag.!Daylight nakedeye in places!
January 15:Southern
windowabout to
open – nowwhat ...?
January 18: ½ week of greatest glory!Only at dusk – extremely wide tail –
as coma sets, tail visibility improves –clear skies essential – Moon soon
A rant againstcomet-ingnorantmedia onGermanMcN blog
The brightest cometsince 1965 – the firstGreat Comet of the‚modern media‘ era –why then the silence?
Reasons for the problematic coverage of the McNaught phenomenon in the general media:
• few clearcut data on nuclear behaviour for many months• general fear of ‚failing‘ comet among influentials• difficult viewing conditions for lay persons in Northern pre-perihelion window anyway (or so they thought)
But ... one could have reported much more widely
• around Jan 5: brightness increasing dramatically day after day, soon exceeding even bright planets• around Jan 9: numerous ‚discoveries‘ in high North• around Jan 12: daytime visibility (question of risk)• around Jan 15: it got three times brighter than Venus• Jan 17 to 21: breathtaking tail for Southern hemisphere
Apart from improving comet forecasting (how?) there should be ‚someone in charge‘ to tell the media about unusual visible sky events, repeatedly
A comet for the IYA?!
C/2007 N3 (Lulin) – February 17 til 28, 2009
Brightness about +5.0 mag. -> faint naked eye, easy binocular, nice small telescope view
In opposition to the Sun (elongation 170-180°)
No Moon in the sky – visible in 1st half of night
Elevation 35 ... 45° for Central Europe 70 ... 80° for Mexico 40 ... 50° for Australia
A comet for the whole planet to enjoy!