Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The word comet derives from the Old English cometa from the Latin comēta or comētēs. That, in turn, is a romanization of the Greek κομήτης 'wearing long hair', and the Oxford English Dictionary notes that the term (ἀστὴρ) κομήτης already meant 'long-haired star, comet' in Greek.
Soon after the first orbital elements could be calculated, it was suggested that the comet would become "a bright object, that could be observed with unaided eye."It was found to combine three favorable characteristics that made it an exceptional comet for observation: a short perihelion distance, a short distance from Earth, and high intrinsic brightness. [9]
The comet reached minimum elongation on 13 March, on 25°. [4] It reached its peak brightness in April. Jacobson spotted the comet with naked eye on April 18. David H. Levy reported that the comet had an apparent magnitude of 4.7 with the naked eye on April 24. In the end of April the tail of the comet was reported to be up to 2–3 degrees long.
This unique spiral galaxy, which is situated 3.2 billion light-years from the Earth, has an extended stream of bright blue knots and diffuse wisps of young stars. [2] It rushes at 3.6 million km/h (1000km/s [2]) through the cluster Abell 2667 and therefore, like a comet, shows a tail, with a length of 600,000 light-years.
Halley's Comet is the only known short-period comet that is consistently visible to the naked eye from Earth, [16] appearing every 72–80 years, [17] though with the majority of recorded apparations (25 of 30) occurring after 75–77 years.
U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) imaging instrument, LASCO C3, captured sequences of comet C/2023 A3, known as Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, as it passed between the Earth and the Sun on Oct. 9 and 10 (U ...
Scientists say comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS is visible once every 80,000 years, and people across North America were treated to stunning views. Striking photos show stunning, once-in-a ...
For observers in the Northern Hemisphere, the comet could be seen on the northwestern horizon, below the Big Dipper. North of 45 degrees north, the comet was visible all night in mid-July 2020. On July 30, Comet NEOWISE entered the constellation of Coma Berenices, below the bright star Arcturus. NEOWISE was retroactively dubbed the Great Comet ...