A new comet, already observable with small amateur telescopes, which promises to give show after Easter, becoming visible with a small binoculars or perhaps also to the naked eye: its temporary name is Swan25f, because it has just been discovered by the Australian astrofile Michael Mattiazzo, analyzing the data of the Swan instrument aboard Soho, the spatial probe for the observation of the sun managed by Nasa and agency, is discovered. European spatial.
“At the moment the procedure that will lead to the release of the official designation of the comet by the Minor Planet Center is still underway,” says the astrophysicist Gianluca Masi, scientific manager of the Virtual Telescope Project.
“In these days it can be observed low on the horizon to the north-east, among the stars of Pegaso, just before the sunrise: from Italy the best moment is around 4:55 in the morning, when the comet is at a height of about 10 degrees. Unfortunately, the conditions are not ideal, because Swan25f gets up just when he starts albeia ». His bright green hair has already catalyzed the attention of many astrophils, who are competing to resume it with their telescopes.
The comet, Masi underlines, “is slowly moving north and slowly will move from the morning sky to the evening, becoming comfortably observable in the evening from 24-25 April. According to the preliminary orbit available at the moment, the comet will move on to Perdie (the point closest to the sun) around May 1st and will be visible with binoculars. In the last 48 hours, however, it has recorded an interesting flicker of brightness that gives hope ».
“The comet seems to be lightly lightly lightly”, says Nick James of the British Astronomical Association. According to many astrophils, it is not excluded that it can become visible to the naked eye by the end of April, but “it is too early to predict what the maximum brightness will be. We need other days of observations to confirm the current trend”, specifies James.