If we have peeps interested in seeing this 28,000km "near miss",
It can be seen from Europe, Asia & Australia, but not NZ or US/Canada
You need a clear sky (d'oh) & live somewhere that is not so badly light polluted, then with a pair of binoculars, you have a good chance to see it.
The attached pic shows its track & time, please note the times are GMT so you need to add your local time onto that.
The easiest place, especially in areas with not so good light pollution, will be at 21:30 (9:30pm) as it crosses the handle of the Plough in Ursa Major..
Posted on: 15 February 2013 by Bruce Woodhouse
Thanks for that. We have minimal light pollution at home, might have a squint if it is clear.
I believe we are getting one or more bright comets this year. Halle-bop was fantastic here for weeks when it passed by sowould be good if we get a similar showing.
bruce
Posted on: 15 February 2013 by Mike-B
We have 2 comets in 2013 that will be interesting, but the big one in November thru into 2014 is hoped to be one of the best for many years.
C/2011 L4 (Panstarrs) could be very bright in March, heading north and passing close to the Andromeda Galaxy in early April in the early morning sky.
C/2012 S1 (Ison) arrives in November & should be an extremely bright as it passes very close to the Sun & will be a naked eye object for a couple of months.
It is currently in Gemini - visible with a scope - it will then pass through Leo and Virgo by the middle of Nov 2013. By then the TV/Press will be full of it so not too hard to follow.
At the end of November it will pass close to the Sun, then heads northwards & pass close to Polaris (the North Star) on 7 Jan.
Posted on: 15 February 2013 by Mike-B
Oh well, maybe another time ........ whenever that might be
A thin cloud cover, back-lit with moon light, made it impossible to see much even when the holes in the cloud gave a peep at the sky around Ursa Major.
As a consolation the BBC-4 program "Please Please Me" by various artist & broadcast live with Radio-2 over the 12 hours of the anniversary date was worth a watch & listen (c/o Naim - naturellement) Joss Stone, Mick Hucknall & Beverley Knight were outstanding.
