Break Out the Binocs!

This will be something to look out for over the next few nights. Comet Lulin is expected to be closest to Earth on Feb. 24th, and with the naked-eye, you should be able to faintly see a gaseous area in the Southern sky. If you've got binoculars or a telescope, you could actually see a image close to the one above. The good news is that we're expecting mostly clear skies tonight so you'll have a better chance of catching it around 1am, plus there's a new moon so the light won't interfere with your comet-gazing!

The comet will be moving in the opposite direction that the Earth spins, so it will look like it's moving fast, so be sure to be ready between midnight because it should set within a few hours, with the best chance to see it around 1am.


On Monday night, Comet Lulin will pass within 2° of Saturn, but I'd suggest checking tonight since we're expecting cloudier conditions on Monday night. Lulin's closest approach will be on Tuesday night, but again, cloudy skies are expected in South Dakota, if you want to keep track of it, http://www.spaceweather.com/ has an answer for you: "The Coca-Cola Space Science Center in Columbus, Georgia, plans to webcast the encounter. "We're going to transmit the view through our observatory's 16-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope," says astronomy professor Rosa Williams of Columbus State University. "The webcast begins at 11:30 EST on Monday, Feb. 23rd and will continue until 5 a.m. EST on Tuesday the 24th." Tune in!"

And after Wednesday, Lulin moves away from us, and the moon will start coming back into the sky, making it much harder to see the comet - of course then is when we're expecting our next system to move in, which I'm sure Cody and Aaron will give more details on in the coming days, the models are still having trouble agreeing what will happen.

Happy star/comet gazing!

~KDLT Meteorologist Jesse Ritka