How to See the Bright Green Comet 21P in Binoculars on Monday

Space.com ^ | September 9, 2018 | Elizabeth Howell, Space.com Contributor

[ETL]

Want to see a comet whizzing by Earth? A great chance to catch one of these celestial visitors is overnight tonight, when Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner will be best visible in binoculars or a telescope.

The comet, also known as "21P," will make its closest approach to Earth at around 2:30 a.m. EDT Monday (630 GMT). The bright-green comet should reach a visual magnitude of 6.5 to 7, according to EarthSky.org. This makes 21P almost bright enough to see with the naked eye — but not quite. [Bright Comets of 2018: When, Where and How to See Them]

To find Comet 21P in the night sky, look east and find the constellation Auriga sometime between midnight and dawn local time. The comet will still be visible even after tomorrow, but it will fade over the coming days. Its exact location from moment to moment is available in NASA's ephemeris calculator.

Comets are small bodies of ice and dust that orbit the sun, just like the planets do. But comets are much smaller than planets, and they travel in highly elliptical orbits. Comet 21P goes around the sun every 6.6 years, and its trail of dust and debris is the source of the annual October Draconid meteor shower.

Meteors are space dust or space rocks that plow into Earth's atmosphere. Meteor showers usually happen when the Earth moves across the path of dust left behind by a comet or asteroid. While some meteor showers produce dozens of "falling stars" or more every hour, the Draconids are fairly weak. The shower is expected to generate only up to eight shooting stars per hour in 2018, NASA meteor expert Bill Cooke told Space.com. [Amazing Photos of Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner and Comet 46P/Wirtanen]

Even if you don't own a pair of binoculars or if you miss out on Comet 21P for any other reason, don't worry: You'll likely have the chance to watch another green comet later this year. Comet 46P/Wirtanen will make its closest approach to the sun on Dec. 16, and current predictions say the comet will be visible with the naked eye. You can see more information about 46P in this recent Space.com story. You can also see some pictures of the two approaching comets here.

[ETL]

Look up with binoculars early tomorrow morning (Sept. 10) to spot Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner whizzing across the sky.
Here, astrophotographer Alexander Vasenin caught a photo of the comet from Moscow Oblast, Russia, on Aug. 18, 2018.

Credit: Alexander Vasenin/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 4.0

This sky map shows the approximate location of Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner during its closest approach to Earth, on
Sept. 10, 2018, at 2:27 a.m. EDT (0627 GMT), as seen from New York City.

Credit: SkySafari App

"I just tried to see the moving of this object. I made 20 frames with my Huawei P10 smartphone, with the monochrome camera. My star
tracking is not so sharp, I have alt-az mount, I used only 10 sec expositions at ISO 1600. The shots was taken in every 10-12 minutes in
this time intervall: 00:16-03:53am 2018. 08.16. Celestron Nexstar 8 SE, 25mm plössl eyepiece (magnification 80x). Of course I used a
good adapter too. Frames has added with Gif maker pro mobile application."
source: https://stargazerslounge.com/gallery/image/34139-comet-21p-giacobini-zinner-gif/

[ETL]

In the animation in post 1 you are seeing two sorts of motion. The rotation of the earth and the comet moving relative to the background stars.

[Beowulf9]

Where would this comet be in relation to Mars?

[rlmorel]

Bfl

[ETL]

Where would this comet be in relation to Mars?

Hope this helps...

Gotta run. No time right now.

[plsvn]

Where would this comet be in relation to Mars?

Nowhere near it, sorry.

[ETL]

Where would this comet be in relation to Mars?

The comet is currently in the area of the bright star Capella (upper left side of image). Mars is currently in the constellation Capricornus (right side, along orange line).

[Larry Lucido]

Looks like it’s on a swing set. :-)

[JDoutrider]

4Ltr

[Rebelbase]

I need Dramamine now.

[minnesota_bound]

Neat image of the comet. It made me dizzy...
I typed in at google: Celestron Nexstar 8 SE
Then clicked on Images and there are many nice photos you could take with that telescope.

[minnesota_bound]

2nd image from #1. Look for the Orion constellation in lower right and then look above it to the left.
If the star is blurry then there is the comet.
If you wait you can see a closeup.
It should hit the Earth at the end of the month.

[bgill]

We won’t being seeing anything but rain clouds for the next week. Need the rain but enough is enough.

[Tallguy]

Y’know, whenever there’s a cool astronomical show going my Pennsylvania home is socked-in with heavy cloud and rain. Never, ever fails.

[ETL]

Y’know, whenever there’s a cool astronomical show going my Pennsylvania home is socked-in with heavy cloud and rain. Never, ever fails.

Same here in New York C. Seems to happen about 80% of the time.

[ETL]

Y’know, whenever there’s a cool astronomical show going my Pennsylvania home is socked-in with heavy cloud and rain. Never, ever fails.

Then again, this is not a one-night event. You'll have lots of other opportunities to see this comet.

[Tallguy]

We have a hurricane moving in on the east coast. We’ll be dealing with clouds and rain thru next weekend. Possible break about Wednesday.