Victoria Jaggard reported at http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/01/090126-comet-lulin.html, that Comet Lulin is sailing through the inner solar system right now and it is getting closer to Earth, its nearest approach will be in late February. Comet Lulin is arriving from far away on a nearly elliptical orbit. Lulin could be on its first pass by the sun. As the object is exposed to the sun's heat the ice on it will vaporize, possibly causing the comet to brighten rapidly or even fall apart. also, the comet's orbit is in nearly the same plane as Earth's but is traveling in the opposite direction. This causes Lulin to appear to move unusually fast and display a rare tail; an optical effect that creates a secondary "tail" pointing toward the sun.
I care because I like space and people should care because this could be dangerous to our planet.
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I find it rather interesting that this could be the first pass of the comet. How was it formed? When?
Does the optical effect that produces the appearance of a tail have a name? Would it be possible to model (i.e. in a lab)?
How close is Lulin to Earth?
it is unknown how it was formed as well as when. they think that it came from infinit light-years away. it will probably never come back after it goes by. the tail is known as a "anti-tail". a lab could be done on it but it would not be easy. at the moment it is about 100,000 miles from earth and it will only get to 50,000 miles.
Any ideas on how fast the comet is traveling? How does its speed compare to others? Is the anti-tail sort of like a shadow?
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