Stan Romanek http://www.stanromanek.com/ The World’s most documented ET contact will speak at the Colorado MUFON state meeting Saturday February 14 from 2 to 5 PM
The meeting will be held at the TIVOLI Student Center on the Auraria Campus, Denver, CO.
MUFON and COMUFON members enter free. General public $5 donation request.
Join MUFON at www.mufon.com
NAKED-EYE COMET: Comet Lulin is now visible to the naked eye from dark-sky sites. “This morning, I noticed a faint smudge above Zubenelgenubi,” reports Jeff Barton from the Comanche Springs Astronomy Campus in West Texas. “I then trained my 9×63 binoculars on the fuzzy patch. Yep, nailed it! I was thrilled to finally bag Comet Lulin without optical aid.”
If optical aid is offered, however, don’t refuse it. The view through a small telescope is dynamite:
Gregg Ruppel took the picture from his backyard observatory in Ellisville, Missouri. It shows the green comet gliding by double star Zubenelgenubi on Feb. 6th.
Photo deleted 7/9/2009. Visit www.spaceweather.com archives to view.
Another report of naked-eye visibility comes from Martin McKenna of Maghera, Northern Ireland: “I went out for a look at Comet Lulin this morning before dawn with my telescope and binoculars. The Moon was very low, so I stood within the shadow of my house and tried to see the comet without optical aid. Using averted vision, I was able to glimpse the comet perhaps a dozen times! It looked like a large grey patch of light very close to Zubenelgenubi. The sight gave me a warm glow on such a frigid frosty night.”
Comet Lulin rises in the east just a few hours before the sun. See for yourself: sky map.
CLOSE ENCOUNTER: Comet Lulin is having a close encounter with Zubenelgenubi, a naked-eye double star in the constellation Libra. Zubenelgenubi is not only fun to say (zuBEN-el-JA-newbee), but also a handy guide to the comet. Point your binoculars at the star and voilà!–Lulin materializes in the field of view. The best time to look is just before dawn on Friday, Feb 6th: sky map.
Editors note: CO MUFON has been closely checking to see if this comet is related to our Lulin but so far she is remaining quiet.
ISS FLYBYS: Here’s something you can definitely see: the International Space Station. The behemoth spaceship spans 93 meters, masses 227,000 kg and shines about as brightly as the planet Venus. For comparison, astronomy professor Jimmy Westlake photographed the space station streaking past Venus last night over Stagecoach, Colorado:
“It was very cool,” says Westlake. “The streak shows how far the ISS moved during the 35 second exposure. I used a Fuji Finepix S2
digital camera and a 35 mm Nikkor lens.”
North Americans should be alert for more scenes like this in the evenings ahead. The ISS is making a series of twilight passes over the United States and Canada this week: flyby times.
FIREBALL ALERT: During the next 48 hours, two big pieces of space debris are expected to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere: a 2000 kg Centaur rocket body on Feb. 3rd and a 2500 kg Delta III rocket body on Feb. 4th. People living along the reentry ground tracks should be alert for fireballs. Ground tracks: Centaur, Delta III.
