Friday, May 9, 2008

New comet Beshore could reach 8th mag. - in the deep South

So far the observed arc of C/2008 J2 (Beshore) measures only one day: If the calculated orbit holds, the comet should reach 8-9 mag. in October. At a declination of -52°. Currently it is not a big light, in contrast to C/2007 W1 (Boattini) which has brightened quite a bit.

In other news there seem to be not two but several storms on Saturn, forming a complicated pattern in the STrZ, as monitored by R. Vandebergh. • One day after the conjunction the lunar crescent had grown a lot. • An impressive halo show from Finland.

• A preview of the daylight Mars occultation by the Moon on May 10 (which also happens to be Astronomy Day, which used to be mainly a U.S. event but is catching on internationally). • And debating the relative 'merits' of Armageddon & Deep Impact ...

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