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The 'Comet of the Century' Just Grew a Rare Anti-Tail (gizmodo.com)

submitted 4 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 weeks ago (2 children)

Can anyone explain how this is the comet of the century?

Halley's comet happens every century. That's the baseline.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

From the article:

According to EarthSky, this comet (known colloquially as Comet A3, for obvious reasons) is special, as it’s the brightest to cross our planet’s sky in 27 years, leading some to dub it the Comet of the Century.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Huh, I'm pretty sure neowise had a lower magnitude. I was in a city at the time and could see it through the light pollution at night with the naked eye. This one disappears quickly in the dark after the sunset goes towards astronomical dusk... And the moon light is also making it impossible to see. Maybe looks brighter at sunset in specific parts of the world, but at least my experience in its glory was nothing like Neowise.

Also earthsky claims magnitude -5 to -7. I don't believe that. For context, the magnitude of Venus is about -4 and that planet outshined the comet greatly.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 weeks ago

Agree. Could see neowise with the naked eye.

Maybe it's just the location of the comet in relation to the sun?

This one is like washed out until right after sunset and then it's gone past the horizon a few minutes later.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 weeks ago

Looks like A3 is only visible once every 80,000 years due to its orbit. Earth will look very different by the time of returns!