The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Watch out for Wachmann

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 12, 2006

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Watch out for Wachmann

Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD: The Comet 73 P. Schwassmann-Wachmann, which is breaking up, is coming close to the earth around May 12.

The comet, in fact, will be coming closer than any other comet in the past 20 years, according to B.M. Birla Science Centre director B.G. Sidharth. "It was seen to have broken into three bits in 1995, and had come 240 million kilometres from the earth. This time, it appears to have broken into 19 fragments and one of these will be just nine km away from the earth around May 12," Dr. Sidharth said.

However, he pointed out that the cometary bits would be very dim, barely visible to the naked eye. The best time for viewing would be on May 12, 13 and 14, that too through binoculars or small telescopes. The bits will be visible, starting from around midnight in the East and till the early hours of the morning in the West.

Dr. Sidharth added that there was no chance of a fragment of the comet crashing into the earth, as had happened in 1908.

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