Kight-Rider Newspapers
Out of space, a comet is hurtling towards us at 65,000 mph.
It will miss Earth by 9 million miles, a hair in the vastness of space, but could provide a light show in the night sky.
The finding, announced recently, comes amid a spate of recent discoveries about the universe. But the new comet has a particular attraction: We might be able to see it.
Not only that, but its very discovery did not depend on the sort of high-price technology that spotted a galaxy 14 billion light-years out or found hints that the smallest-known particles of matter may contain smaller parts still. The comet was first spotted by a guy in Japan with binoculars.
This new commet, called Hyakutaki, after the discoverer, is already visible to those who know exactly where to look. When Yuji Hyakutaki first spotted it on Jan. 30, it was somewhere between the orbits of Jupiter and Mars. Other astronomers zoomed in on it, and by watching how the comet moved over the subsequent days, they projected its path.
The comet's approach to within 9 million miles will put it about a tenth the distance between the Earth and the sun. By March, it may become visible with the naked eye, a blurry bright object that will appear to move slowly across the sky.
Not all comets that come in close put on a good show.
In 1973, astronomers predicted that a comet called Kohoutek would put on a dazzling display, but it remained dim. And Halley's most recent appearance, in 1986, was less than spectacular.
Although this comet won't hit us, scientists note a very slight chance that one will do so in the future.
In 1994, the comet Shoemaker-Levy broke up and the pieces crashed into Jupiter, although Jupiter is a much bigger target, more than 1,000 times the size of the Earth.
Still, comet collisions are possible, says astronomer Brian Marsden of the Harvard-Smithsonian Observatory.
``One could always creep upon us and cause tremendous damage,'' he said ``All it takes is one.''
And while we learned that a new comet was blazing our way, scientists at the Fermi national Labratory in Illinois were reporting on inner space.
They hinted that invisible parts may exist inside the invisible particles called quarks, which themselves are inside invisible particles called protons, which in turn are inside the invisible nucleus of the generally invisible atom.
The evidence for smaller particles comes indirectly, from the results of colliding larger particles. Invisible also are many recent discoveries from outer space, such as three newly discovered planets orbiting other stars, detectable only in the way they alter these stars' wavelengths of light.
But if Hyakutaki's comet makes a good show, it will be accessible to anony who cares to look it up.