New Comet Visible in Early Morning Sky

Prabhupada: This dhumaketu is described in Dasavatara-stotra, dhumaketum iva kim api karalam. Dhumaketum iva. Dhumaketum iva kim api karalam. * As soon as there is comet, there will be some disaster.  Very great disaster. In our childhood we saw the comet, not this like. That was small comet. Still, the first world war was there declared. That we have seen in 1914.

New Comet Visible in Early Morning Sky

By Joe Rao 08 June 2010
SPACE.com Skywatching Columnist

A recently discovered comet is surprising skywatchers by becoming brighter than predictions had first suggested and can now be seen with the unaided eye during the next few weeks.

Comet McNaught is expected to pass closest to the sun (perihelion) on July 2, at a distance of 37 million miles (60 million km).  This sky map shows where to look in order to spot the comet in the morning sky.

The comet is visible now for people with dark skies away from urban and suburban lighting. By mid-June it may be an easy skywatching target for most people.

Photos of the Comet:
http://www.kometen.info/2006p1.htm

IANS 2010-06-11 12:40:00

Comet McNaught closest to Earth next week

If you look towards the northeastern sky before sunrise June 15, the recently discovered comet McNaught will be closest to Earth and visible to the naked eye.

The comet will appear as a dim and diffuse circular patch of light gliding through the constellation of Perseus in the northern sky.

It has been brightening rapidly as it approaches Earth for a 100-million-mile close encounter.

‘Comet McNaught has a vivid green head and a long wispy tail that looks great through small telescopes. By the end of the month it could be visible to the naked eye perhaps as bright as the stars of the Big Dipper,’ said N.S. Raghunandan Kumar, general secretary, Planetary Society, India.

The Big Dipper is an alignment of seven stars known in ancient Indian astronomy as ‘Sapta Rishi’ or ‘The Seven Great Sages’.

According to scientists, this is the comet’s first visit to the inner solar system, so predictions of future brightness are necessarily uncertain.

Comet McNaught was discovered in September 2009 by Robert McNaught at Australia’s Siding Spring Observatory while conducting a search for potentially dangerous near-Earth objects.

Prabhupada: This dhumaketu is described in Dasavatara-stotra, dhumaketum iva kim api karalam. Dhumaketum iva. Dhumaketum iva kim api karalam. * As soon as there is comet, there will be some disaster. Very great disaster. In our childhood we saw the comet, not this like. That was small comet. Still, the first world war was there declared. That we have seen in 1914.

Nara-narayana: Halley’s comet.
Prabhupada: Eh?
Nara-narayana: I think they called it Halley’s comet. Halley’s comet.

Prabhupada: Now the… You can expect at any moment disaster in this material world, but the comet is the sign that there will be some great disaster. ( S.P. Morning Walk January 3, 1974, Los Angeles)

* Sri Dasavatara-stotra
mleccha-nivaha-nidhane kalayasi karavalam
dhumaketum iva kim api karalam
keshava dhrta-kalki-sarira jaya jagadisa hare

O Keshava! O Lord of the universe! O Lord Hari, who have assumed the form of Kalki! All glories to You! You appear like a comet and carry a terrifying sword for bringing about the annihilation of the wicked barbarian men at the end of the Kali-yuga.