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More Signs and Portents
Interest will run high during the next couple of months with the prospects of viewing not just one, but two potentially bright, naked-eye comets. Two at once, time to invest in tin foil stocks. Both are by-products of systematic searches for asteroids that might closely approach the Earth. One was discovered on Oct. 14, 2002 by the Lincoln Laboratory Near-Earth Asteroid Research survey and was hence christened with the acronym "LINEAR." The other was found on Aug. 24, 2001 by the Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking program and goes by the acronym "NEAT." I not worrying till they name one "HAMMER". Professional astronomers can observe anywhere from half a dozen to a dozen comets on any given night. But comets bright enough to excite those of us without big telescopes are relatively rare, perhaps appearing on an average of one or two every ten to fifteen years. The last time we saw a truly bright and spectacular naked-eye comet was seven years ago, during the early spring of 1997: Comet Hale-Bopp. Wonder how many cult's will off themselves this time? Posted by: Steve 2004-03-19 |
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