In 1996, a 7-year-old boy in China bent
over the eyepiece of a small telescope and saw something that
would change his life - a comet of flamboyant beauty, bright
and puffy with an active tail. At first he thought he himself
had discovered it, but no, he learned, two men named "Hale"
and "Bopp" had beat him to it. Mastering his disappointment,
young Quanzhi Ye resolved to find his own comet one day.
And
one day, he did.
Fast
forward to a summer afternoon in July 2007. Ye, now 19 years
old and a student of meteorology at China's Sun Yat-sen University,
bent over his desk to stare at a black-and-white star field.
The photo was taken nights before by Taiwanese astronomer
Chi Sheng Lin on "sky patrol" at the Lulin Observatory.
Ye's finger moved from point to point - and stopped. One of
the stars was not a star, it was a comet, and this time Ye
saw it first.
Comet
Lulin, named after the observatory in Taiwan where the discovery-photo
was taken, is now approaching Earth. "It is a green beauty
that could become visible to the naked eye any day now, "
says Ye.
Amateur
astronomer Jack Newton took this photo from his backyard
observatory in Arizona:
"My
retired eyes still cannot see the brightening comet, "
says Newton, "but my 14-inch telescope picked it up quite
nicely on Feb. 1st., 2009"
The
comet makes its closest approach to Earth (0.41 AU) on Feb.
24, 2009. Current estimates peg the maximum brightness at
4th or 5th magnitude, which means dark country skies would
be required to see it. No one can say for sure, however, because
this appears to be Lulin's first visit to the inner solar
system and its first exposure to intense sunlight. Surprises
are possible.
Lulin's
green color comes from the gases that make up its Jupiter-sized
atmosphere. Jets spewing from the comet's nucleus contain cyanogen
(CN: a poisonous gas found in many comets) and diatomic carbon
(C2). Both substances glow green when illuminated
by sunlight in the near-vacuum of space.
In
1910, many people panicked when astronomers revealed Earth
would pass through the cyanogen-rich tail of Comet Halley.
False alarm: The wispy tail of the comet couldn't penetrate
Earth's dense atmosphere; even it if had penetrated, there
wasn't enough cyanogen to cause real trouble. Comet Lulin
will cause even less trouble than Halley did. At closest approach
in late February, Lulin will stop 38 million miles short of
Earth, utterly harmless.
To
see Comet Lulin with your own eyes, set your alarm for 3 am.
The comet rises a few hours before the sun and may be found
about 1/3rd of the way up the southern sky before dawn. Here
are some dates when it is especially easy to find:
Feb.
6th, 2009: Comet Lulin glides by Zubenelgenubi, a double
star at the fulcrum of Libra's scales. Zubenelgenubi is not
only fun to say (zuBEN-el-JA-newbee), but also a
handy guide. You can see Zubenelgenubi with your unaided eye
(it is about as bright as stars in the Big Dipper); binoculars
pointed at the binary star reveal Comet Lulin in beautiful
proximity. [sky
map]
Feb.
16th, 2009: Comet Lulin passes Spica in the constellation
Virgo. Spica is a star of first magnitude and a guidepost
even city astronomers cannot miss. A finderscope pointed at
Spica will capture Comet Lulin in the field of view, centering
the optics within a nudge of both objects. [sky
map]
Feb.
24th, 2009: Closest approach! On this special morning,
Lulin will lie just a few degrees from Saturn in the constellation
Leo. Saturn is obvious to the unaided eye, and Lulin could
be as well. If this doesn't draw you out of bed, nothing will.
[sky
map]
Ye
notes that Comet Lulin is remarkable not only for its rare
beauty, but also for its rare manner of discovery. "This
is a 'comet of collaboration' between Taiwanese and Chinese
astronomers, " he says. "The discovery could not
have been made without a contribution from both sides of the
Strait that separates our countries. Chi Sheng Lin and other
members of the Lulin Observatory staff enabled me to get the
images I wanted, while I analyzed the data and found the comet."
Somewhere
this month, Ye imagines, another youngster will bend over
an eyepiece, see Comet Lulin, and feel the same thrill he
did gazing at Comet Hale-Bopp in 1996. And who knows where
that might lead...?
"I hope that my experience might inspire other young people to pursue the same starry dreams as myself, " says Ye.
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