I know tomorrow's Christmas. But if you can bring yourself to set your alarm for a bit before 3:30am (yes AM), you could have a special double space treat.
Treat number 1: There's a beautiful clear sky out there as I write this, and if it stays that way you'll be able to get to some high ground where you can see to the east-south-east and see the comet that has been wowing the world. Comet Lovejoy (named after an Aussie you discovered it!) just flipped around the sun a few days ago and everyone thought it was going to disintegrate. They were all surprised when it came out the other side and now we have an amazing show - only for Southern Hemisphere people prepared to get up early!
Date: Sunday, December 25, 2011
Time: 03:32 AM
Duration: 2 minutes
Maximum Elevation: 36°
Approach: 36° above ENE
Departure: 15° above ESE
The up-shot of this sciencey goodness is if you wake a child up to see it, you can be guaranteed they will then sleep in a little bit for Christmas morning! And maybe you can tell them a story about the comet being Santa's sleigh or something...
And for the observant ones, you no doubt saw the two tails in this stunning photo of Lovejoy. The bending one is the trail from the comet's actual path. The straight one is from the Sun's ion bombardment of the comet.
Click on the pic to embiggerate it and enjoy a truly beautiful photo from Spaceweather.
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