COMET KUDO-FUJIKAWA NEARS THE SUN
Roger W. Sinnott
Senior Editor
Sky & Telescope
January 25, 2003Comet Kudo-Fujikawa (C/2002 X5) has now entered the field of view of SOHO's LASCO C3 coronagraph. It first appeared today (January 25th), looking like the end of a thin cotton swab directly above (north of) the Sun, at the top of the circular frame. As expected, the tail points directly away from the Sun. During the next few days, the comet should make its way diagonally down to one side of the Sun (which is behind an occulting disk at the center of the field). Images are being returned hourly by the SOHO spacecraft, and they may be viewed at: http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime-images.html The comet will spend the next six days in the C3 field before exiting at the end of January. While it could become as bright as magnitude 2 during this period, it is much too close to the Sun to be observed safely in a ground-based telescope. This comet was independently discovered in mid-December by Japanese amateurs Tetuo Kudo and Shigehisa Fujikawa. If the comet survives its perihelion passage -- near 0 hours Universal Time on January 29th, at just 0.19 astronomical unit from the Sun -- it will emerge in the evening sky for observers in the Southern Hemisphere. More about this comet, including a current ephemeris, can be found at http://SkyandTelescope.com (click Observing, then Observing Highlights, and scroll down to the story). ______________________________________________ Meteorite-list mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list
