February 2009: Comet Lulin's tail terminates / disconnects - ( first visit to inner solar system )

February 4, 2009 - Astronomers discover IMF-ION-Plasma discharge from Comet Lulin's tail. "Retrograde orbit, unbound." The cometary nucleus makes it's Closest earth approach @ 0.41 AU, on Feb 24, 2009. Near sun Jan 8-12, 2009. Debris impact on earth, upon conjunction times!? Lulin will not be back to orbit our solar system in our lifetimes.

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[DatNiggueNamedYat]

must have been crazy to see from mars

[solarcradle]

Dat's :) an excellent point. As seen from the JPL NEO simulator, during Lulin's approach to our inner solar system the comet looks much closer to Mars than it was earth. Nov 2008, comet lulin was nearest to mars.

[unaka2012]

Great mashup! I grabbed a few shots with my d60.

[solarcradle]

Nice! Do you have a link to your pictures? I can't get enough. :)

If you haven't seen it, visit spaceweatherdotcom on Feb 24 or 25th and hit the play it! link below THE GREAT GREEN Q-TIP post. WOW! Thanks to Filipe Alves from Portugal, we have this spectacular view of Comet Lulin's filaments. I'm impressed. It's a must see!

[Airsoft4989]

what time can i see it in illinois ive been sitting here looking out my window for like 5 hours

[solarcradle]

Hi Airsoft.

Both! :) The comet is at it's closest approach to earth today. Lulin is approx. 38 million miles away from earth. You can continue to view Lulin through a lens until the comet leaves our inner solar system.

[Sipper0]

i wanna see it but it is too cloudy D:

[Airsoft4989]

so do you mean 2/23/09 or 2/24/09 as today because its 5:00AM here

[solarcradle]

Hello Airsoft. First grab yourself a lens because comet lulin is a faint patch of dust to the unaided eye. Try looking south to south west. Find the bright star Saturn in the southerly to western sky. Comet lulin is passing Saturn today. Good Luck.

[solarcradle]

As you can see from the orbit diagram, the orbit is suggested to take place along those narrow co-ordinates. I just want to point out that the ION plasma tail is an expanding cloud of gas and interstellar dust millions of miles long. Earth is or will be crossing through the outskirts and eventually innards of Lulin's tail debris. I believe meteorologists and earth scientists will be realizing more of Lulin's earth weather affects closer to the end of Feb, beginning of March.