will occur later this month when the glowing object passes within 11.2 million miles of Earth on 20 October 2010. It's already visible in small telescopes and binoculars, and it should become a naked eye object if observed from a rural location. More information about its rapid approach can be found here and here.
NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft is already beaming back images of this target object, and should pass within about 600 miles of Hartley 2 in early November. Stay tuned for more images!
UPDATE: Here's an excellent finder chart and, for astro geeks, ephemeris data.
Friday, October 1, 2010
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I can say with 80% confidence that we were able to locate the comet on Friday night out in CV. Skies were clear & dark. The Milky Way obscurred the "fuzzblob", but if you looked up obliquely, you could make it out (I think!). Thanks for the tip.
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