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Watch for the Comet C/2007 N3 (Lulin)	01.01.2009 18:05

In February and March of this year (2009), this comet C/2007 N3 (Lulin) will be visible at magnitude 4 all night: evening, midnight and early morning, according to www.aerith.net. Then it will rapidly drift away from April onwards. In January it is supposed to be visible at magnitude 5 low in the sky in the early morning as well. Some recent pictures of this comet are also available at www.aerith.net. The following images I compiled show the comet's location when the crescent moon is visually close by, which may make for interesting and picturesque viewing. (Jan 20th, 2009; 12:23 UTC)

This is a top-view of the comet's location near perihelion, relative to the other inner solar system planets. (Comet is the grey circular symbol)

The observer's location used in the diagrams above and below is Los Angeles, CA (USA). This will have an effect primarily on the location of the moon the farther away you are from this location.

And this is a close up view of the comet and moon in the early morning of January 20, 2009. Another thing to note is that the comet is going around the sun in the opposite direction as the planets, so it will be moving very quickly across the sky, on the order of degrees per day. If you watch it carefully through binoculars or a telescope, you will be able to tell that it has moved relative to background stars over about 15 minutes. Oh, this comet is hyperbolic, meaning it will never return (its eccentricity is greater than 1, e = 1.000205059155055), so this is the only chance that humanity will have to see comet C/2007 N3 (Lulin)!
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