{"id":4584,"date":"2017-02-17T09:49:16","date_gmt":"2017-02-17T14:49:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/?p=4584"},"modified":"2025-08-23T16:11:51","modified_gmt":"2025-08-23T20:11:51","slug":"possible-visible-comets-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/2017\/02\/17\/possible-visible-comets-this-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Possible Visible Comets This Year"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Comets are strange things.\u00a0 The classic definition is that they are icy snowballs traveling through space.\u00a0 As they get closer to the sun, they heat up and vent material into space and create a tail.\u00a0 Some of these tails are tens of millions of miles long.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>In actuality, these objects formed billions of years ago and spent most of their existence billions of miles from the sun.\u00a0 The comets we see in the inner solar system were dislodged from their orbits by passing stars and fell toward the sun.<\/p>\n<p>As they fall toward the sun, comets face one of three fates:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>They fall into the sun or pass so close to the sun that they are vaporized. The SOHO space craft has filmed several of these sun diving or sun grazing comets.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li>The comets pass the sun at just the right angle that they gain enough speed and are sling shot out of the solar system. These one-pass comets follow a hyperbolic orbit. Typically, these comets are very bright, but very rare.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li>The comets enter the solar system and have their orbits changed by one of the gas giant planets. These comets become periodic comets, orbiting the sun with periods of between a few years to several centuries. These comets have a \u201cP\u201d in their names to identify them as periodic.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Between now and June, astronomers are expecting four comets to be bright enough to be seen with binoculars and one that may be bright enough to be seen with the unaided eye.\u00a0 Of course, these projections have been known to be wrong, but here\u2019s hoping.<\/p>\n<p>The first comet to become visible through binoculars is <a href=\"https:\/\/in-the-sky.org\/data\/object.php?id=0045p\">45P\/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova<\/a>.\u00a0 It is expected that this comet will reach magnitude 6.4 on Feb. 9.\u00a0 See the site below for more information on how to find this comet and the ones listed below.<\/p>\n<p>The second comet to become visible through binoculars is <a href=\"https:\/\/in-the-sky.org\/data\/object.php?id=0041p\">41P\/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak<\/a>.\u00a0 It is expected that this comet will reach magnitude 7.9 on April 5.\u00a0 This comet is a little iffy for binoculars, but will definitely be a telescope object<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/in-the-sky.org\/data\/object.php?id=ck15e61r\">C\/2015 ER61 (PANSTARRS)<\/a> will reach its brightest point around May 4 at 5.3 magnitude.\u00a0 If it brightens just a little bit more, it may be visible to the unaided eye.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, comet <a href=\"https:\/\/in-the-sky.org\/data\/object.php?id=ck15v020\">C\/2015 V2 (Johnson)<\/a> is expected to peak at magnitude 6.6 on June 5.<\/p>\n<p>If you don\u2019t own binoculars, look forward to March 10.\u00a0 That is when <a href=\"https:\/\/in-the-sky.org\/data\/object.php?id=0002p\">2P\/Encke<\/a> will reach its brightest.\u00a0 On that date, Comet Encke will be easily visible.\u00a0 What will it look like all depends on the level of out gassing, but it should be a good show.<\/p>\n<p>For more information, go to <a href=\"https:\/\/in-the-sky.org\/data\/comets.php\">https:\/\/in-the-sky.org\/data\/comets.php<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>THE NIGHT SKY<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The International Space Station is visible as follows:<\/p>\n<p>ISS evening through Feb. 17.<\/p>\n<p>ISS morning Feb. 28 through March 24.<\/p>\n<p>ISS evening beginning March 26<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>For the times of other events, go to www.calsky.com.\u00a0 You will need to register at this site and load your location to be able to get exact times.\u00a0 The University of Maine at Presque Isle is located at 68d00m7.8s west longitude and 46d40m45.6s north latitude.<\/p>\n<p>To get a free sky chart, go to www.skymaps.com.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Sun and Planet Visibility<\/p>\n<p>02\/20\/2017<\/p>\n<p>06:26 Sunrise.<\/p>\n<p>17:04 Sunset.<\/p>\n<p>Not visible: Mercury.<\/p>\n<p>17:06\u201320:36 Venus.<\/p>\n<p>17:36\u201321:00 Mars.<\/p>\n<p>21:30\u201306:12 Jupiter.<\/p>\n<p>02:54\u201305:54 Saturn.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>03\/01\/2017<\/p>\n<p>06:10 Sunrise.<\/p>\n<p>17:18 Sunset.<\/p>\n<p>Not visible: Mercury.<\/p>\n<p>17:18\u201320:18 Venus.<\/p>\n<p>17:48\u201321:00 Mars.<\/p>\n<p>20:54\u201306:00 Jupiter.<\/p>\n<p>02:24\u201305:42 Saturn.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>02\/07 09:18 Mercury at Aphelion\u2013furthest from the sun.<\/p>\n<p>02\/08 19:44 ISS passes 1.3 degrees from the moon.<\/p>\n<p>02\/10 17:34 Penumbral\/Partial Lunar Eclipse begins.<\/p>\n<p>02\/10 17:57 ISS passes 0.68 degrees from Deneb (Alpha Cygnus).<\/p>\n<p>02\/10 19:32 Full Moon.<\/p>\n<p>02\/10 19:43 Maximum Penumbral Lunar Eclipse.<\/p>\n<p>02\/10 21:53 Penumbral Lunar Eclipse ends.<\/p>\n<p>02\/15 20<sup>th<\/sup> anniversary of the Juancheng Meteor Fall\u2013Hit house in China (1997).<\/p>\n<p>02\/15 06:18 Moon 3.4 degrees from Jupiter.<\/p>\n<p>02\/18 03:10 Moon Immersion (eclipse begins) of Zuben Elakrab (Gamma Libra).<\/p>\n<p>02\/18 04:17 Moon Emersion (eclipse ends) of Zuben Elakrab (Gamma Libra).<\/p>\n<p>02\/18 14:33 Last Quarter Moon.<\/p>\n<p>02\/18 16:14 Moon at Apogee\u2013furthest from the Earth.<\/p>\n<p>02\/19 21:05 Venus at its brightest (-4.85 mag).<\/p>\n<p>02\/20 12:00 Venus at Perihelion\u2013closest to the sun.<\/p>\n<p>02\/21 03:18 Moon 5.4 degrees from Saturn.<\/p>\n<p>02\/26 09:53 Annular Solar Eclipse\u2013Not visible in the U.S.<\/p>\n<p>02\/26 09:58 New Moon.<\/p>\n<p>02\/26 19:19 Mars 0.56 degrees from Uranus.<\/p>\n<p>03\/01 17:48 Moon 4.6 degrees from Mars.<\/p>\n<p>03\/03 02:24 Moon at Perigee\u2013Closest to the Earth.<\/p>\n<p>03\/04 06:10 Mercury 1.0 degrees from Neptune.<\/p>\n<p>03\/04 19:08 Moon Immersion (eclipse begins) of Theta 1 Taurus.<\/p>\n<p>03\/04 19:12 Moon Immersion (eclipse begins) of Theta 2 Taurus.<\/p>\n<p>03\/04 20:14 Moon Emersion (eclipse ends) of Theta 1 Taurus.<\/p>\n<p>03\/04 20:18 Moon Emersion (eclipse ends) of Theta 2 Taurus.<\/p>\n<p>03\/05 06:32 First Quarter Moon\u2013This is the biggest first quarter moon of the year.<\/p>\n<p>03\/06 04:59 ISS passes 0.39 degrees from Deneb (Alpha Cygnus).<\/p>\n<p>03\/06 19:30 Mercury in Superior Conjunction\u2013other side of the sun.<\/p>\n<p>03\/12 10:53 Full Moon.<\/p>\n<p>03\/14 Pi Day.<\/p>\n<p>03\/14 21:24 Moon 3.4 degrees from Jupiter.<\/p>\n<p>03\/17 07:00 Equilux\u2013Equal length of day and night for Presque Isle.<\/p>\n<p>03\/18 08:27 Mercury 8.5 degrees from Venus.<\/p>\n<p>03\/18 23:22 Moon at Apogee\u2013furthest from the Earth.<\/p>\n<p>03\/20 06:06 Moon 2.4 degrees from Saturn.<\/p>\n<p>03\/20 06:28 March Equinox\u2013Spring begins.<\/p>\n<p>03\/20 11:58 Last Quarter Moon.<\/p>\n<p>03\/23 09:54 Mercury at Perihelion\u2013closest to the sun.<\/p>\n<p>03\/25 06:18 Venus in Inferior Conjunction with the sun\u2013between the Earth and the sun.<\/p>\n<p>03\/26 11:06 Mercury 2.1 degrees from Uranus.<\/p>\n<p>03\/27 22:57 New Moon.<\/p>\n<p>03\/28 20:00 Moon 9.5 degrees from Mercury.<\/p>\n<p>03\/30 01:42 Mercury at half phase.<\/p>\n<p>03\/30 19:30 Moon 6.9 degrees from Mars.<\/p>\n<p>03\/31 23:24 Moon Immersion (eclipse begins) of Hyadum 1 (Gamma Taurus).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Comets are strange things.\u00a0 The classic definition is that they are icy snowballs traveling through space.\u00a0 As they get closer to the sun, they heat up and vent material into space and create a tail.\u00a0 Some of these tails are tens of millions of miles long.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":96,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7381],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/96"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4584"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4584\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8911,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4584\/revisions\/8911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}