- Encke is currently the brightest comet visible, shining at a magnitude of 2 and visible through binoculars in the northern hemisphere. It will be brightest over the next month. - Comet ISON may disappoint and not become bright enough to see with the naked eye. It faces an uncertain fate after passing close to the sun due to heat, gravity and radiation. - Comet Linear has increased dramatically in brightness but is still difficult to observe, only visible low on the northeast horizon just before sunrise. - Comet Lovejoy, discovered in September 2013, is now visible through small telescopes below Jupiter in the morning sky.

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What’s in the SKY?
OpticTracker Newsletter
Friday, November 1, 2013
Party time for comets! Would you care to join them?Party time for comets! Would you care to join them?Party time for comets! Would you care to join them?
EnckeEncke
What is the brightest comet in our skies right now? You might want to say,
“ISON, of course.” After all, we have been building up high expectations of
this so called “comet of the century.” Surprisingly, the correct answer is –
Encke. Shining at 2 magnitudes, Encke is currently six times brighter than
Comet ISON. “Encke will be a fine binocular object over the next month,”
writes David Dickinson, “especially favorable for the northern hemisphere
observers.” This is its closest pass of the Earth during the past 33 years,
and the next will not occur until 2030. Pick up your binoculars and small
telescopes and lock on it.
ISONISON
A question that is often asked recently: will ISON be a huge disappointment
in the end? Over the past several months, we have been hearing bad news:
it may break apart when it is too close to the sun, it may not be a naked-eye
object even if it survives, and it hasn’t brightened up as expected. Many
factors contribute to its uncertain fate after its brush with the sun: heat,
gravity and radiation. We are less and less confident that ISON will be
another moon in pre-dawn skies in December. But the good news is that the
comet is still going strong and still very active as it is approaching the sun.
As a bonus, we may enjoy a nice meteor shower show in January when
Earth crosses through ISON’s orbit.
LinearLinear
Meanwhile, Comet X1 Linear has dramatically increased its brightness from
+14th
magnitude to +8.5 on October 20th
, that is, over 100-fold brighter.
Unfortunately, such a highly improved visibility does not make it easier for
the observers. On the one hand, it is still not bright enough for a naked-eye
observation. On the other hand, the time it appears is tricky. According to
Dickinson’s report for Universe Today on October 23, you should be able to
find it “only 15 degrees about the northeast horizon 30 minutes before local
sunrise.” John Chumack, who captured all four comets in the morning of
October 26, also confirmed that Linear is “tough to get.”
LovejoyLovejoy
Also give some applause to the new member to the 2013 comet lineup—
Comet C/2013 R1 Lovejoy. Discovered in early September 2013, it is now a
clear object for small telescopes. It can be found below Jupiter in the
morning sky.
If you look closely and you are lucky, you may
still be able to capture all four comets before
dawn at the same time. So get up and gear up!!