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UNSTABLE COMET

What's Up in Space -- 20 May 2006

UNSTABLE COMET: Comets have heads and tails. It's that simple. So what's happening to comet 73P-C? It looks more like an hourglass. Its pinched shape is "increasing dramatically," says Clay Sherrod of the Arkansas Sky Observatories, who took this picture last night:


73P-C is the biggest and until now the sturdiest fragment of dying comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3. While other fragments fell apart in recent weeks, fragment C held together. The suddenly pinched shape may signal an overdue breakup.

Glowing like an 8th magnitude star, fragment C remains an easy target for big backyard telescopes. Look for it in the eastern sky just before dawn: sky map.

posted by ... @ 7:52 PM