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Feb 23, 2009

Comet Lulin and Saturn hooked-up and visible!

The Great Cosmic Coincidence of Feb 24, 2009


Space Weather News for Feb 23, 2009

COSMIC COINCIDENCE: What are the odds? On Tuesday, Feb 24, Saturn and Comet Lulin will converge in the constellation Leo only 2 degrees apart. At the same time, Comet Lulin will be making its closest approach to Earth--the comet at its best!-- while four of Saturn's moons transit the disk of the ringed planet in view of backyard telescopes.

Oh, and the Moon will be New, providing dark skies for anyone who wishes to see the show.The best time to look is around 1 am Tuesday morning (your local time) when the planet-comet combo ascend high in the southern sky.

To the unaided eye, Comet Lulin looks like a faint patch of gas floating next to golden Saturn. Point your backyard telescope at that patch and you will see a lovely green comet with a double tail.

Visit SpaceWeather.com for full coverage including photos, sky maps, and a live webcast.

~:~

'Golden Saturn'!! With my four natal planets ruled by Saturn, I'm suitably behooved to hear the Old Man described so glowingly especially since he has a rather bad rap sheet.

And you know that in the tropical zodiac, which applies for most of us western astrologers, the Lulin-Saturn hook-up is occurring in Virgo, but be that as it may, I have hopes of nabbing a peek at them at 1:00 am est in the morning.

Most comets I've been able to view from my deck, so I figure no matter how cold it is, I can mosey out there and give it a go!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

were you able to see it?

Jude Cowell said...

Hi Jilly!

Did you? It was mighty cold out on the deck and we didn't make it past 1:10 am
(wimpy, i know!)

And what i had left out of the equation were more and taller trees that had grown a whole bunch since Hale-Bopp dropped by. Duh.

There's an open field up the road, but it was a bit late to bundle up for a trek, so No, the Sandman whispered and I had to answer, as green Lulin and golden Saturn tangoed above my pillow, yet unwitnessed.

Now I feel sheepish about it, but there it is.

So i've have had to be satisfied with the photo gallery at SpaceWeather - not too difficult considering the variety of locations on display and the quality of the photography!

Thanks for asking, jude ;p