This month, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) is going to have its 2009 general assembly. One topic that may come up for discussion is Pluto’s right to be called a planet. Which is really the topic of how to define a planet. And as we shall see below, although Pluto has been the driver for …
Tag Archives: astronomy
Comet McNaught Again
Contrary to what I first thought about the view of Comet McNaught getting fainter and fainter, it just keeps getting better. Now that it’s further away from the sun, the comet can be viewed against a much darker background, and even though the comet is “fainter” than it was when it was closer to the …
Comet McNaught
In case you’re not aware, there’s a pretty cool celestial event occurring right now: a comet has appeared that is the brightest since 1965. Comet C/2006 P1, also known as Comet McNaught after its Australian discoverer Robert McNaught, is very visible in the evening sky (barring clouds of course), appearing in the south-west sky slightly …