Comets????

Question

When was the most recent comet seen? (not first seen, just last seen) And what comet was it?

Answer 1

Comet Macnaught was found in August 2006 and peaked at magnitude -6 in January 2007. It is not periodic and won't be seen again. -6 is brighter than Venus which varies between -3.8 and -4.6 and few celestial objects ever achieve that feat,

Less spectavcularly 96P/Machholz is a short-term periodic comet that orbits every 63 months and was at perihelion 3 weeks ago. It has just had a reason to be in the news.

With a magnitude of 2 it was the brightness of the Pole Star (Polaris) and in the top 50 visible objects in the night sky on this its 5th appearance.

It will next be at perihelion in June 2012 and would be a portent for the London Olympic Games that summer

Discovered by: Donald Machholz
Discovery date: 1986

Aphelion distance: 5.90347497 AU
Perihelion distance: 0.12412874529142 AU
Semi-major axis: 3.0138018588805 AU
Orbital period: 5.2322 years

Last perihelion: April 3, 2007
Next perihelion (predicted): June 26, 2012
Apparent magnitude: 2

Answer 2

Comet McNaught, the brightest comet in over 40 years, also known as the Great Comet of 2007.

Answer 3

January 2007, comet McNaught.

Answer 4

C/2007 E2 (Lovejoy) is currently nearing its peak on light curve at about 8th magnitude. This comet is visible in binoculars in a dark sky. See http://www.aerith.net/comet/catalog/2007E2/2007E2.html

The most recent naked eye comet was the C/2006 P1 (McNaught), which put on quite a show in January, especially for southern hemisphere observers.
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap070212.html

Answer 5

Comets are chunks of rock and ice theorized to originate from a miles off region round our solar undemanding because the oort cloud. even as comets are dislodged from this deep area region, they holiday in route of the solar and start up orbiting with incredibly elliptical orbits. As a comet techniques the solar, the ice starts to soften (from the nice and cozy temperature of the solar), which also breaks up products of rock. This cloth is partly vaporized and streams in the back of the planet in an icy tail (undemanding as a coma). even as a comet is "shot" decrease back out into deep area after passing via the solar, the tail fades away and finally disappears thoroughly till the comet comes decrease back round for yet another bypass via the solar. desire this facilitates :)