My Dark Sky

Comet Hartley 2 is making a visit to the inner solar system, approaching us for a close encounter on October 20. I’ve no time to write a detail post, so I’ll just link you to Sky & Telescope for more information. Basically, it’ll glide through Cassiopeia, Perseus and into Auriga.

If you think Comet Hartley 2 sounds a bit familiar, it may be you heard it from the extended mission for Deep Impact. After part of Deep Impact slammed into Comet Tempel 1 and completed its mission there, it was renamed to EPOXI and change course to encounter Comet Hartley 2 on November 4, in the meantime, its instruments is used to perform follow-up studies of extrasolar planets (that how the new mission got its name – Deep Impact Extended Investigation (DIXI) and Extrasolar Planet Observation and Characterization (EPOCh)).

So if your sky is clear, head out with a binoculars or telescope and see if you can spot this greenish icy visitor.

~ by thChieh on October 12, 2010.

Posted in Comets, Observations & Tips