Friday, February 27, 2009
Page 15
AT THE SIDEBAR (Column)
Another Comet Evades Detection
By J’AMY PACHECO
It looks like i missed another one
I recently read that Comet Lulin was supposed to pass within 38 million miles of our planet a few nights ago, and that some people might be able to see it with the naked eye.
Since I actually own a pair of binoculars, I thought it was a pretty sure bet that I’d be able to spot this comet. I thought my losing streak was coming to an end.
See, Lulin wasn’t the first comet I’d attempted to spot. In the late 1980s, Halley’s Comet made big news when it returned to Earth following a seven-plus decade absence. I really wanted to see Halley’s Comet. So much so that my husband (then boyfriend) and I rented a motorhome, left the comfort of our Orange County apartment, and drove to some forsaken part of the Nevada Desert where there were no lights to mask the famous celestial streak.
We couldn’t find it.
The trip wasn’t a total loss – we ended up in Reno, where we had a wonderful time playing craps. But since Halley’s Comet isn’t due back this way until 2061, it’s unlikely I’m going to see it – unless I live to the age of 102. My great grandmother made it to 99, so I suppose it’s possible. Even if I did make it to 102, I doubt I’d have the energy to go out comet hunting.
I had another shot about a decade later when the Hale Bopp Comet made its visit in 1997. Somehow, I managed to miss that one as well. I feel pretty stupid about that, considering the fact that it was visible for 18 months, and that something like 69 percent of Americans reported having viewed the comet.
Not me. I can’t even tell you why I missed it. I had a baby in 1996, so I’m thinking I must have just been too tired to care.
It’s not like I’m not interested. I love seeing cool things in space! One summer, for example, my siblings and I descended upon our mother’s desert home in an attempt to view the Perseids. Late into the night, we floated on inner tubes in her swimming pool, sipping champagne and gazing into the night sky where we did manage to spot the meteor showers. That was cool.
I’ve always been fascinated by the night sky. As a teenager in a then-remote part of the Mojave Desert, I would often pull my MG Midget convertible over to the side of the road, lay my head back and stare up at the bazillions of stars glittering overhead. I’m back in that same desert, but either the skies are a lot less clear, or there aren’t as many stars as there used to be.
When I heard a new comet was going to come shooting by, I was pretty determined to see it. But since it passed on a school night, a motorhome trip was out of the question.
I did enough research to figure out approximately where it should be, and took my daughter outside to look. Unfortunately, we couldn’t see much, as we were completely surrounded by two-story houses.
Inside, we searched from bedroom and bathroom windows. We spotted quite a few airplanes, a handful of stars, and a couple neighbors who apparently didn’t think anybody would be spying through binoculars. Oops.
At one point, I spied something that was very bright, and looked sort of greenish – as Comet Lulin is said to be. But I also kept catching flashes of red. It wasn’t moving, so I suspected it wasn’t a plane.
But then I spotted what I knew was a star and noticed it, too, had some red and green flashes. I determined that the ancient binoculars I was using must have somehow caused the color confusion.
Comet Lulin, described as a “greenish smudgeball,” is supposed to be 75 times larger than Earth. And doggone it, I managed to miss it.
That might not be a bad thing. I recently finished reading a two-book set of novels about the moon being knocked out of its orbit by an asteroid. The net result was that the moon ended up really close to Earth causing flooding, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, extreme winter, starvation, and massive casualties.
The books, which chronicled the efforts of two families to survive under those harsh conditions, were scary enough that I ended up motivated to restock my earthquake supplies.
I know a comet and an asteroid aren’t the same thing, but when anything comes visiting from space, it’s scary – and thrilling.
I guess I’ll just have to stay on the lookout for the next comet, and consider investing in a telescope.
And maybe a motorhome. If things don’t work out in the sky, there’s always Reno...
Copyright 2009, Metropolitan News Company