‘Caloy’ to obstruct view of comet

ANGELES CITY — What is expected to be this year’s brightest comet to pass closest to the Earth this week is expected to be totally kept from visibility by tropical storm "Caloy."

"Our skies will be covered by tropical storm ‘Caloy’ so there is probably no chance we would be able to see the 73P Sshwassmann-Wachmann comet at its brightest this week," Dario de la Cruz, chief of the Astronomical Observatory Unit of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) told The STAR yesterday.

He, however, said there is still a chance that parts of the fragmented comet may be seen after "Caloy" is gone "since the sky is usually much clearer after a typhoon."

De la Cruz said the comet is not expected to be totally gone from the skies until June.

For 65 years after the comet was discovered by German astronomers Arnold Schwassmann and Arno Arthur Wachmann, it did not create enough interest among astronomers until 1995 when it grew 1,000 times brighter as a result of breaking initially into three to four fragments. It is believed that the comet has disintegrated into as many as 40 pieces.

De la Cruz said none of the comet debris is expected to hit Earth.

While scientists believe that the comet is the brightest that could be seen on Earth this year, it pales in comparison with other comets such as the Hale-Bopp, which was last seen in 1997.

"It will have no tail," De la Cruz said, adding that some of its bigger fragments could have a magnitude 6 visibility. At this magnitude, the comet could be seen with the use of ordinary binoculars, he said.

While De la Cruz said his observatory based in Diliman, Quezon City has so far failed to locate the comet, Dr. Armand Lee, a physician taking up a masteral course in astronomy at the Rizal Technological University (RTU), was able to take a photo of a fragment of the comet last April.

Lee told The STAR that he took the picture using his own 11-inch telescope at his residence in Las Piñas City at about 10 p.m. last April 21.

Dr. Cynthia Celebre, chief of PAGASA’s astronomy and research development section, said her agency is now coordinating with Lee and other astronomy students at the RTU in Mandaluyong City which she said is the only school in the country offering a full-fledged astronomy course.

Lee said his photo showed the comet with a magnitude of 8.5. "At this magnitude, the comet is not yet visible to the naked eye, but can be seen with the use of ordinary binoculars," he said.

He described the comet as "dim gray" in color. He said it did not glimmer like a star.

Lee advised astronomy enthusiasts to look for the comet in the northern skies.

"First look for the Big Dipper, then follow the handle of the dipper toward the east to the red star," he said.

On a clear night, he said the comet can best be viewed at about 10 p.m.

"The comet is expected to turn brighter in May at magnitude 4," he said.

Celebre said the comet would be readily visible to the naked eye at magnitude 2. 

She said magnitudes are units of measurement of the visibility of objects, with a negative measurement indicating greater visibility.

Astronomers said the brightest fragment "C" will zoom past Earth at a distance of 11 million kilometers or about seven million miles.

At this distance, they said the comet does not threaten Earth, although two other main pieces are expected to pass closer.

Although rare, comet fragments have been reported in the past, the best known of which was the comet Shoemaker Levy, which had split into 21 pieces before plowing into Jupiter in 1994.

Celebre dismissed the claims of Eric Julien, a former French military air traffic controller and senior airport manager based in Hawaii, that a fragment of the comet is likely to hit the Atlantic Ocean on May 25.

Quoted recently in wire reports, Julien said he used simulations of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the comet’s path to back up his theory that its fragments would collide and could trigger lagging fragments to hit the Earth.

Lee said such a scenario would not happen since the comet is expected to produce only dust showers even as small as grains of rice.