Comet May Be Seen In N.Z.

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30884, 18 October 1965, Page 16

Comet May Be Seen In N.Z.

iNZPA.-Reuter —Copyright) NEW YORK. Oct. 17. A comet now rushing toward the sun may provide Australia and New Zealand with one of the most spectacular celestial views of the century on Thursday, a United States astronomer said yesterday. The Ikeya-Seki comet, named after the two Japanese who discovered it last month will pass within 300.000 miles of the sun’s surface on that day at 4.5 p.m.. New Zealand time, giving millions of people a chance to see what

happens. Just exactly what will hap-

pen, however, is not at all certain, according to Dr. Kenneth Franklin, of the Hayden Planetarium, New York. i Dr. Franklin said that knowledge of comets, the most beautiful and unpredictable bodies in the solar system. was scant at best. "We really don’t know too much.” he said, adding that the best way to predict a comet’s performance was to look at the past. Dr. Franklin said that Comet No. 2 of 1882 followed almost exactly the same path past the sun as the IkeyaSeki comet It was first visible to the naked eye about two weeks before it reached the closest point to the sun. and was bright enough to be seen next to it at high noon—»s it is predicted the IkeyaSeki comet will be. But when it completed its trip past the sun and began to cool it broke up in a magnificent celestial display into about a dozen pieces strung

out for 100,000 miles, becoming known as “the string of pearls” comet. Dr. Franklin predicts that after the Ikeya-Seki comet passes the sun and begins to cool it should begin to be more active from the sun’s energy, flaring up in a spectacular manner.

Astronomers, amateur and professional, in the Far East, Australia and New Zealand will have the best view of the comet on Thursday, since the sun will be highest in the sky there when the comet flashes past. Dr. Franklin said. He cautioned against using binoculars to watch, however, because even a brief slip could focus the binoculars into the sun, possibly resulting in blindness. Dr. Franklin said that comets were not unusual in themselves—the Ikeya-Seki was the sixth discovered this year and two others have been spotted since. But once in a while they follow a path that

makes them visible in their journey and then “it’s a reasonably spectacular time,” he said.

The Ikeya-Seki comet might be one of a series of comets resulting from the break-up of a super-giant comet many thousands of millions of years ago, he said. He described a comet as a body made up of frozen gases with a mass weight of possibly millions of pounds spread out over thousands of miles. If weather conditions are suitable New Zealanders may tomorrow get a spectaular display of the comet on its way to the sun. The director of the Carter Observatory at Wellington, Mr 1. L. Thomsen, said the comet would be visible in the eastern sky in the next few mornings. “I am not very optimistic, however,” he said. “It is very difficult to be exactly certain that the sky conditions will be the best.”