{"id":110852,"date":"2020-05-15T16:48:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-15T15:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/news\/?p=110852"},"modified":"2020-05-15T16:49:16","modified_gmt":"2020-05-15T15:49:16","slug":"look-out-for-the-comet-in-uk-skies-tonight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/news\/look-out-for-the-comet-in-uk-skies-tonight\/","title":{"rendered":"Look Out For The Comet In UK Skies Tonight"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Comet \u201cSwan\u201d will be visible in uk skies tonight.<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_110859\" style=\"width: 288px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-110859\" class=\"size-full wp-image-110859\" src=\"http:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/05\/A82768A4-A43B-474B-BEC5-D6BD6F87C4BB.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"278\" height=\"181\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-110859\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Australian discovered the icy rock recently.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The comet, named after the\u00a0<span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW175988327 BCX0\">Solar Wind <\/span><span class=\"SpellingError SCXW175988327 BCX0\">Anisotropies<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW175988327 BCX0\"> (SWAN) instrument aboard SOHO, the ESA\/NASA Solar and <\/span><span class=\"SpellingError SCXW175988327 BCX0\">Heliospheric<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW175988327 BCX0\">Observatory, was discovered by amateur astronomer Michael <span class=\"TextRun SCXW175988327 BCX0\"><span class=\"SpellingError SCXW175988327 BCX0\">Mattiazzo\u00a0<\/span><\/span>recently.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<div class='besclwp-iframe-outer'>\n<div class='besclwp-iframe Twitter'>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">In April, a citizen scientist spotted a never-before-seen comet in data from <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/esa?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@ESA<\/a>\/<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NASA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@NASA<\/a>\u2019s SOHO satellite! Scientists are hopeful Comet SWAN will remain bright enough to be seen from Earth as it continues towards its close approach of the Sun on May 27: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Za0ltxOHVO\">https:\/\/t.co\/Za0ltxOHVO<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/9eXX9HqXsp\">pic.twitter.com\/9eXX9HqXsp<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; NASA Sun &amp; Space (@NASASun) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NASASun\/status\/1260559164012716032?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 13, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The comet will reportedly become brighter towards the end of the month, as it gets closer to the sun at the centre of our solar system.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><span class=\"TextRun SCXW175988327 BCX0\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW175988327 BCX0\">A post on th<\/span><\/span><span class=\"TextRun SCXW175988327 BCX0\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW175988327 BCX0\">e <\/span><span class=\"TextRun Underlined SCXW175988327 BCX0\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW175988327 BCX0\">European Space Agency <\/span><\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW175988327 BCX0\">website explains<\/span><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW175988327 BCX0\">: &#8220;It can be extremely difficult to predict the <span class=\"SpellingError SCXW175988327 BCX0\">behaviour\u00a0<\/span>of comets that make such close approaches to the Sun, but scientists are hopeful that Comet SWAN will remain bright enough to see as it continues its journey. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><span class=\"TextRun SCXW175988327 BCX0\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW175988327 BCX0\">&#8220;<\/span><\/span><span class=\"TextRun SCXW175988327 BCX0\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW175988327 BCX0\">If the comet survives, star gazers on Earth should look for it near the bright star Capella in the constellation of Auriga, the Charioteer.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><span class=\"TextRun SCXW175988327 BCX0\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW175988327 BCX0\">&#8220;This is almost certainly the only time the comet will be visible in our lifetimes: estimates are not yet fully precise, but it is clear that the comet&#8217;s orbital period is measured in thousands or even millions of years.&#8221;<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>It\u2019ll be best viewed in the direction of the Southern Hemisphere, and a BBC report explained: &#8220;Binoculars rather than naked eye would give someone the best chance of seeing it.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><span class=\"TextRun SCXW175988327 BCX0\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW175988327 BCX0\">&#8220;Into next month it will have a better elevation but not predicted to be very bright so again binoculars or a small telescope would be needed.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><span class=\"TextRun SCXW175988327 BCX0\"><span class=\"NormalTextRun SCXW175988327 BCX0\">&#8220;They are easier to handle and should give a nice view of the comet&#8217;s &#8216;smudge&#8217; appearance.&#8221;<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not going to be easy to see, as explained, but if you time it right, and look in the right places, SWAN will be visible to you in the UK tonight, and possibly later on in the month too.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Comet \u201cSwan\u201d will be visible in uk skies tonight. The comet, named after the\u00a0Solar Wind Anisotropies (SWAN) instrument aboard SOHO, the ESA\/NASA Solar and HeliosphericObservatory, was discovered by amateur astronomer Michael Mattiazzo\u00a0recently. In April, a citizen scientist spotted a never-before-seen comet in data from @ESA\/@NASA\u2019s SOHO satellite! Scientists are hopeful Comet SWAN will remain bright&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uk-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110852"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110852\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":110860,"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110852\/revisions\/110860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}