Posted Monday 23rd February 2009 16:53 GMT
Interesting comment that Lulin rotates clockwise. Surely that depends on your viewpoint; Viewed from south of Earth's orbital plane it would be anti-clockwise and other planetary objects clockwise.
The least ambiguous way to describe it would be to say its orbit is retrograde in respect to Earth.
Sorry to be a pedant!
Posted Monday 23rd February 2009 16:53 GMT
our new fuzzy overlords - may your reign be swift and fleeting
Posted Monday 23rd February 2009 20:27 GMT
Of course, as a long-period comet from the Oort cloud, you may have any orbital inclination you like and therefore go around the Sun any direction you wish.
Our deepest apologies, oh great green fuzzy masters!
Posted Monday 23rd February 2009 20:27 GMT
That should be a retrograde orbit.
The majority of comets on trajectories similar to Lulin follow retrograde orbits, and the most famous of all comets, Halley, is also retrograde, so they aren't at all uncommon.
I just want to know if Bruce Willis has been put on standby, or if we can all sleep safely in our beds?
Posted Tuesday 24th February 2009 01:34 GMT
And of course it won't be pink and purple unless you're viewing it in X-ray and ultraviolet wavelengths. http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap090221.html
Posted Tuesday 24th February 2009 01:34 GMT
Rotational motion in the solar system is normally viewed from the perspective of the Sun's north pole. So most objects (including the Sun itself) rotate counterclockwise.
Posted Tuesday 24th February 2009 13:28 GMT
Olympic swimming pools and Bulgarian airbags are everyday objects that anyone can get a feel for, but what are these minutes you talk about? Surely the comet ejects enough water to fill a swimming pool in 5 CD tracks. This is equivalent to 7 swimming pools per DVD.
BTW: I think you will find the easy way to find the comet is to look behind the cloud.
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