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Fascinating! Last Friday I was closing some curtains on a full (ish) bright moon, my other half asked what the star beside it was. I told her it was Jupiter. Sh
by rikkipitt 8y ago
Fascinating! Last Friday I was closing some curtains on a full (ish) bright moon, my other half asked what the star beside it was. I told her it was Jupiter. She then asked what the very dim star beside Jupiter was... I didn't know so I opened the "Star Walk" iOS app to find out. It was 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko! We couldn't believe we could see it with the naked eye in a major city. Quite surreal to think that something mankind made is sitting on it...
- jcims 8y agoThanks for the heads up! I had no idea it was visible either, will look for it tonight before the fireworks!
- jhpankow 8y agoYou could see a magnitude 23 comet outside of Jupiter with your naked eye?
- dotancohen 8y agoWhatever star you saw, it was not the comet. You would have an easier time squinting and seeing the streptococcus on your teeth in the mirror than you would see the comet. The bacteria are both larger (angular diameter) and higher contrast against the background. You saw another star, in the same general direction of the comet. But it's cool knowing in what direction that comet is, with our little robot on it.
- rimliu 8y agoInteresting… Last Friday (jun 30th) Mars and Saturn were both much closer to the moon than Jupiter, and depending on the time Jupiter could be below horizon already. The bright star next to Jupiter could be Zubenelgenubi. As other pointed out there is no way you could see madnitude 22 object with a naked eye. You won’t be able to see it even with 10 meter telescope, unless you use something that lets you to integrate the light.