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Comet Finlay in Bright Outburst, Visible in Small Telescopes
Comet Finlay on December 16th shows a bright coma and short tail. Its sudden rise to 9th magnitude was confirmed on December 18th by Australian comet observer Paul Camilleri. The moderately condensed object is about 3? in diameter. Credit: J. Cerny, M. Masek, K. Honkova, J. Jurysek, J. Ebr, P. Kubanek, M. Prouza, M. Jelinek
Short-period comet 15P/Finlay, which had been plunking along at a dim magnitude +11, has suddenly brightened in the past couple days to +8.7, bright enough to see in 10×50 or larger binoculars. Czech comet observer Jakub Cerny and his team photographed the comet on December 16th and discovered the sudden surge. Wonderful news! While comets generally brighten as they approach the Sun and fade as they depart, any one of them can undergo a sudden outburst in brightness. You can find Finlay right now low in the southwestern sky at nightfall near the planet Mars. (…)
Read the rest of Comet Finlay in Bright Outburst, Visible in Small Telescopes (481 words)
© Bob King for Universe Today, 2014. |
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Post tags: 15P/Finlay, comet, Comet Lovejoy, Holmes, Mars, outburst
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Source: http://www.universetoday.com/117449/comet-finlay-in-bright-outburst-visible-in-small-telescopes/
