{"id":784060,"date":"2024-06-13T07:41:50","date_gmt":"2024-06-13T12:41:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=784060"},"modified":"2024-06-13T07:41:50","modified_gmt":"2024-06-13T12:41:50","slug":"catching-comet-13p-olbers-this-summer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=784060","title":{"rendered":"Catching Comet 13P Olbers This Summer"},"content":{"rendered":"


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A little known periodic comet graces northern hemisphere summer skies.<\/em><\/p>\n

Short summer nights presents a tough dilemma for nighttime astronomy: to stay up late, or wake up early? Summer 2024 gives you at least one reason to opt for the former, as periodic Comet 13P\/Olbers graces the evening sky.<\/p>\n

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The History of the Comet<\/h2>\n

The comet was first spotted on the night of March 6th<\/sup>, 1815 by astronomer Heinrich Olbers (of Olbers\u2019 Paradox fame) observing from Bremen, Germany. The orbit was later described by Carl Gauss and Friedrich Bessel as just shy of 74 years, about five years off of the present value.<\/p>\n

A sketch of Comet 13P Olbers from 1887 by William Robert Brooks. Credit: Public Domain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Comet\u2019s Orbit<\/h2>\n

Comet 13P\/Olbers is on a 69 year orbit, which takes it from a perihelion 1.175 Astronomical Units (AU) from the Sun just outside of the Earth\u2019s orbit, out to an aphelion of 32.5 AU out beyond the orbit of Neptune.<\/p>\n

Perihelion for the comet occurs June 30th<\/sup>, 2024 at 1.175 AU from the Sun and 1.919 AU from the Earth.<\/p>\n

\"orbit\"
The orbit of Comet 13P Olbers. Credit: NASA\/JPL<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A Synopsis of the Current Apparition<\/h2>\n

In 2024, Comet 13P Olbers loiters low to the west this summer for northern observers at dusk. This is because it\u2019s approaching Earth along our line of sight. The comet will seem to hang about 20-30 degrees above the horizon on summer evenings for mid-latitude northern hemisphere observers.<\/p>\n

\"June
The location of the comet in the evening sky in mid-June. Credit: Stellarium<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here\u2019s our look at what to expect from the comet month-by-month. Unless otherwise noted, \u2018Passes near\u2019 means a closest approach of less than one angular degree:<\/p>\n

June<\/strong><\/h2>\n

17-The orbital path of the comet is edge on as seen from our point of view, and the comet may exhibit a spiky anti-tail.<\/p>\n

19-Passes into the constellation of the Lynx.<\/p>\n

28-Passes near the +4.3 magnitude star 31 Lyncis.<\/p>\n

\"Path\"
The celestial path of the comet through September 1st.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

July<\/strong><\/h2>\n

5-Passes near the +4th<\/sup> magnitude star 10 Ursae Majoris. (note: 10 Uma is one of the several \u2018stray stars\u2019 littered across the sky that found themselves on the wrong side when constellation borders were formalized in 1922. Thus, the star calls Ursa Major its home constellation, though it\u2019s now located in the Lynx(!)<\/p>\n

9-Crosses into the constellation Ursa Major.<\/p>\n

11-Crosses back into the Lynx.<\/p>\n

13-Crosses into the constellation Leo Minor.<\/p>\n

20-Passes closest to Earth, 1.876 AU distant.<\/p>\n

28-Crosses back into the constellation Ursa Major.<\/p>\n

\"Light
The observed and projected light curve for Comet 13P Olbers. Credit: Weekly Information on Bright Comets. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

August<\/strong><\/h2>\n

13-Crosses into the constellation Coma Berenices.<\/p>\n

14-Passes in front of the open star cluster Melotte 111.<\/p>\n

16-Passes 1.3 degrees from the +4.3 magnitude star Gamma Coma Berenices.<\/p>\n

19-Passes near the +10th<\/sup> magnitude galaxy NGC 4565.<\/p>\n

21-Passes three degrees from the North Galactic Pole.<\/p>\n

25-Passes near the +9th<\/sup> magnitude galaxy Messier 65 (the Black Eye Galaxy).<\/p>\n

September<\/strong><\/h2>\n

1-May drop back down below +10th<\/sup> magnitude.<\/p>\n

Observing a comet like 13P Olbers is as simple as sweeping the suspect target field at low power, and looking for a tiny \u2018fuzz ball\u2019 that\u2019s out of place. Binoculars work great in the regard. Visually, binocular comets in the +6th<\/sup> to +10th<\/sup> magnitude range look lots like a bright globular cluster that stubbornly refuses to snap into focus. It was for this very reason that French astronomer Charles Messier established the first rough deep sky catalog in 1774, to mark the \u2018false comets\u2019 in the sky.<\/p>\n

One thing\u2019s for sure: we\u2019re definitely due for the next naked eye \u2018Great Comet\u2019 for the 21st<\/sup> century\u2026 in the meantime, be sure to hunt down comet 13P Olbers on its 2024 apparition.<\/p>\n

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A little known periodic comet graces northern hemisphere summer skies. Short summer nights presents a tough dilemma for nighttime astronomy: to stay up late, or wake up early? Summer 2024… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":784061,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-784060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-genaero"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/784060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=784060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/784060\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/784061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=784060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=784060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=784060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}