Just For Fun, A Chance To Exhibit Your Hidden Superstition

Source: Wikipedia

Way back when, comets were viewed with superstitious dread. They were considered harbingers of disaster, pestilence, doom and –

Ah, yes. Like what we’re going through now.

So Spaceweather has this report, which is rather like adding a pedestrian to a crosswalk in a movie. It’s decorative, goes with the mood, all that sort of thing.

COMET ATLAS IS BRIGHTENING FASTER THAN EXPECTED: Get ready for a wild ride. Comet ATLAS (C2019 Y4) is plunging toward the sun and, if it doesn’t fly apart first, it could become one of the brightest comets in years.

“Comet ATLAS continues to brighten much faster than expected,” says Karl Battams of the Naval Research Lab in Washington DC. “Some predictions for its peak brightness now border on the absurd.”

The comet was discovered in December 2019 by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) in Hawaii. Astronomers quickly realized it might be special. On May 31, 2020, Comet ATLAS will pass deep inside the orbit of Mercury only 0.25 AU from the sun. If it can survive the blast furnace of solar heating, it could put on a good show.

However, no one expected the show to start this soon. More than 2 months before perihelion (closest approach to the sun), Comet ATLAS is already “heating up.” The worldwide Comet Observation Database shows it jumping from magnitude +17 in early February to +8 in mid-March–a 4000-fold increase in brightness. It could become visible to the naked eye in early April.

Keep an eye out. I’m not superstitious and I’ve love to see a big ol’ comet.