Comet heading towards the Sun- willl it survive?

http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/realtime-c2.html

Comet disintergrates near Sun

The orbiting spacecraft saw this comet heading toward the sun and disintergrate.
5/26/08
http://www.spaceweather.com/

if not this date use archives

Comet Boattini (2007 W1)

Date:4/16/08
Time : 10:36 pm MT
location: Amadoo, AZ
11hr 37.246
-19d 41.1
Conditions: clear but moon nearby
I caught this comet Boatinni at around 9th magnitude even during moonlight.
It has a rather bright nucleus and a roundish coma.
this one below taken at 11:57 shows the movement during that duration

Ten days before this great APOD photo, I photographed Comet McNaught for the last time

Ten days before the APOD photo of Comet McNaught, I photographed the ice ball for the last time over Shawnee, Kansas (USA) (Left). At that time it was probably -1 magnitude. I also took a video which came out well. Photographed 1/10/2007 over Shawnee, KS. Photographed with kodak digital 290 with 10x zoom at 100 ASA. (1 second).
Wish I had my minolta digital which died a month before or the Canon XT and telephoto I have now!

What a superb photo of the great Comet McNaught on APOD (1/20/2008*)!
Wish I was able to go "down under" to see this even better show.
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
* if not that date use archives

While we in the Northern Hemisphere were only able to glimpse it for a few days before it became even more spectacular in the Southern Hemisphere, I still feel fortunate to have seen this great comet with my own eyes, binoculars, telescopes and able to photograph it.

Photographed with kodak digital with 10x zoom at 100 ASA. (1 second)

Very nice animation of comet 8P

Very nice closeup animation of the comet 8 P (2008 01 04.76570 by R.Ferrando

http://www.pla-de-arguines.com/8P-ANI.gif

Each image is the sum of 5 images of 30 seconds.
The tail measures but of 18 minutes of arc.

Greetings
R.Ferrando
941

Comet 8P/Tuttle

Comet 8P/Tuttle is heading toward Earth. On Jan. 1st and 2nd it makes its closest approach to our planet--only 24 million miles away. The emerald-colored comet will brighten to a predicted magnitude of 5.8, visible to the unaided eye from dark-sky sites and a fine target for telescopes.

Latest pics in spaceweather.com archives
Map here too

My canon is in the shop but I will try CCD imaging at observatory I use and Harvard scope if it clears
Meanwhile I was going through my images to discover which comets I did not pick up. Here is comet Faye 2/27/2007

Dr. Eric Flescher (kcstarguy@aol.com), Olathe, KS Comet Observers Award Coordinator- Astronomical League / Astronomical Society of Kansas, KC, MO-Louisburg,KS: http://www.astroleague.org/al/obsclubs/comet/comet.htm: Comet Observers Blog: http://cometobservers.blogspot.com/:Subscribe to Comet Observers newsletter (send your email to):CometObserversAwardAL-subscribe@yahoogroups.com : : Eclipse sightings > http://eclipse-sightings.blogspot.com/: E.O.A.S. (Earth, Oceans, Atmosphere and Space) Blog -:State of Kansas-JPL NASA Solar System Ambassador: #2572 IMCA

Star of Bethlehem wasn't a comet -what else could it have been?

A few years ago, I researched the subject of the Star of Bethlehem for a presentation I was doing in Kansas City, KS. I pointed to 10 different possibitilies, omens, events, astronomical phenomenon. My presentation was entitled "The 10 Myths of the Star of Bethlehem".

It wasn't Halley's Comet which appeared in sky 12BC ( was late and nearer to 2 BC) Besides comets were bad omens and mostly associated with dread. .

http://clioaudio.com/2007/12/24/nero-and-the-comets-of-doom/

This nice account tries to explain comet as the "Star" (blog info on 12/23/2007)
http://www.sciencemusings.com/2007/12/star-of-bethlehem.html

another

http://nation.ittefaq.com/issues/2007/12/25/news0558.htm

Mark Kidger of the European Space Agency (as did I ) that while a Triple Conjuction in 7BC was good (an forthcoming omen), the conjunction of 2 BC was a possibly better or best fit.

Going back in time, with my Imac Macintosh computer and Starry Night Pro software, I simulated this conjunction. There it was in 2BC. I concluded that it was this conjunction after looking at a host of other possibilities.

But lately Kidger and others have surmised that this date may have been too late for the "Star". So that led to something in between.

Now the suggestion turned to a possibility of a nova star in 5 BC. This is in the realm of one of my ten possibilities.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-te.md.christmas25dec25,0,822279.story?coll=bal_tab01_layout

Astronomers are still looking for this Nova that the Chinese might have noted and that might have been a good candidate.

Happy holidays!