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Kirkwood Observatory opens to public for Neanderthal comet viewing

By Liz DeSantis

Posted February 8, 2023

Visiting lecturer Vaclav Pavlik adjusts the Kirkwood Observatory telescope for viewing. (Liz DeSantis)

Bloomington residents can view a close-passing comet through the lens of a telescope at a public event at Kirkwood observatory Wednesday.

According to NASA, the comet will only be about 26 million miles away from the Earth and can be seen with the naked eye in areas with low light pollution.

Indiana University visiting physics lecturer Vaclav Pavlik said the green comet, which some scientists have dubbed the Neanderthal comet, is coming back within view for the first time since the Stone Age.

“You can figure out that the last time this particular body visited the Earth was about 50,000 years ago, so which means that will be a comet that could potentially be viewed by our ancestors,” Pavlik said.

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The event will include learning opportunities about the solar system and comets. A team of faculty and graduate students in the IU Astronomy department are even creating a model comet from dry ice.

The model will only be about the size of a basketball, but the real comet is much bigger – about the size of a small city.

“Imagine Bloomington,” he said. “A frozen Bloomington dust and ice ball flying into space. That would be about the size of the comet.”

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NASA scientists estimate that the comet is more than half a mile wide.

Weather permitting, the Kirkwood Observatory will be open to the public tonight from 8-10.

The IU astronomy department will post live updates on the event on their Twitter account @iuAstro.

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