Halleys comet ?

I heard from a friend today that the Halleys comet trails will be seen tonight by the naked eye in the early hours of the morning ?

Can someone shed some light on that ?

Thanks

http://en.wikipedia.or​g/wiki/Halley%27s_Come​t
It will be awhile before that one comes back, I saw it in 1986 and it look like a fuzzy ball.

The Eta Aquarid meteor shower (shooting stars) peaks around now and they are the remnants of the dust from the tail of Halley's comet. Best time to look is just before morning twilight.
Have a search on this forum for meteor trails for some methods of photographing them.

Just found this Article. Shooting stars it is.

Will it be from the last viewing or an older trail left before 1986, And sorry Eiro I thought you meant the comet not the trail it left.

No biggie, thats what I meant. I'm actually waiting to catch the Halleys Comet for my 78th Birthday

Seen Halleys but pushing daisy when the next it comes (98yo)

cheers

The Eta Aquarids is just one of many annual meteor showers, and it's not even the best one to watch.
Most meteor showers we experience are when the Earth passes through the debris trail left in the wake of a passing Comet.
For more information on Meteor shower:
http://www.amsmeteors.​org/meteor-showers/
http://meteorshowerson​line.com/calendar.html

And http://spaceweather.co​m/ will keep you updated on Meteor showers as well as many other things to include solar and Aurora activity.

If you do want to see a comet, there are occasionally some that can be seen with the naked eye or just a pair of modest binoculars. Most however will require a small telescope.
http://www.minorplanet​center.net/iau/Ephemer​ides/Comets/
http://www.aerith.net/​comet/weekly/current.h​tml
http://cometchasing.sk​yhound.com/

And then for satellites other space junk and the planets as well as asteroids and comets also.
http://www.heavens-above.com/

Thanks Tkerr

How about this then?

A GIANT asteroid heading towards Earth will just miss us in November, Nasa experts predicted last night.
The space rock is 1,300ft wide and weighs 55million tons - the largest object ever to approach our planet so close.
It will pass at a distance of 201,700 miles - described by an astronomer as "a cosmic hair's breadth".
That is closer than the Moon, which orbits 238,857 miles away on average.
The asteroid, called YU55, is officially labelled a Potentially Hazardous Object.
If it did hit Earth, it would have the force of more than 65,000 atomic bombs, blasting a crater six miles wide and 2,000ft deep.
It orbits the sun every 14 months. But experts are confident it will not collide with us within 100 years.
YU55 will be visible with small telescopes around November 8.
Robin Scagell, of the Society for Popular Astronomy, said: "It's rare we get the chance to see an asteroid up close."

bbulldog wrote in post #12381310
How about this then?

A GIANT asteroid heading towards Earth will just miss us in November, Nasa experts predicted last night.

Last Night?

bbulldog wrote in post #12381310
The space rock is 1,300ft wide and weighs 55million tons - the largest object ever to approach our planet so close.
It will pass at a distance of 201,700 miles - described by an astronomer as "a cosmic hair's breadth".
That is closer than the Moon, which orbits 238,857 miles away on average.
The asteroid, called YU55, is officially labelled a Potentially Hazardous Object.
If it did hit Earth, it would have the force of more than 65,000 atomic bombs, blasting a crater six miles wide and 2,000ft deep.
It orbits the sun every 14 months. But experts are confident it will not collide with us within 100 years.
YU55 will be visible with small telescopes around November 8.
Robin Scagell, of the Society for Popular Astronomy, said: "It's rare we get the chance to see an asteroid up close."

Good luck with seeing it with a small telescope. Timing won't be good, and if you do see it visually it will look pretty much just like a small star. You would want to use a Camera to capture a sequence of exposures to detect its movement.

More information on 2005 YU55
note the date on the article
http://www.space.com …potted-passing-earth.html

http://neo.jpl.nasa.go​v/news/news171.html

I've not done it personally yet, but my Meade telescope (80mm cheapy)has a way to download asteroids and other updates (including satelites i believe) and can track them in real time.

This sounds worth me trying it finally.

Missed out on the Aquarid shower - cloudy for so long that I forgot about them

denvillerailfan wrote in post #12382544
I've not done it personally yet, but my Meade telescope (80mm cheapy)has a way to download asteroids and other updates (including satelites i believe) and can track them in real time.

This sounds worth me trying it finally.

Missed out on the Aquarid shower - cloudy for so long that I forgot about them

Satellites are easy to track and see since you can actually see them moving. However, Most asteroids aren't so obvious unless you are very familiar with that area of the sky and know the positions of stars.
I've got a few telescopes of various sizes. 114mm Newt, 80mmED, and 6" Goto Refractor, and a 10 Newt (Dob). I have seen a couple asteroids with my 10" Newt using a magnification of greater than 200x, but have yet to find any with the other telescopes. I might have been able to locate them with my Goto using the data base of objects, but whether or not I could actually identify them as an asteroid remains to be seen.
I do know people who hunt asteroids and have seen them with smaller telescopes. It's something that takes time and patience under good observing conditions. If you've got the time and it is close enough to the earth you can see the motion against the background of stars, but not like you would see a Satellite as it moves through the field of view.
Position and timing are important. Such as 2005 YU55 will be approaching from the direction of the sun which will make it difficult even for a large telescope. And then only specific areas around the world will be able to see it at it's closest approach.

tkerr wrote in post #12382182
Last Night?


Good luck with seeing it with a small telescope. Timing won't be good, and if you do see it visually it will look pretty much just like a small star. You would want to use a Camera to capture a sequence of exposures to detect its movement.

More information on 2005 YU55
note the date on the article
http://www.space.com …potted-passing-earth.html

http://neo.jpl.nasa.go​v/news/news171.html

trust the UK papers to be so slow