New comet spotted. Will be visible to naked eye in late 2013

[bchernicoff]

"...on 28 November 2013, current predictions are of an object that will dazzle the eye at up to magnitude —16. That's far brighter than the full Moon."

http://www.astronomynow.com/news/n1209/25comet

 

[Loswr]

Unfortunately, the ultra long range forecast calls for overcast skies that night.

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

I'm suprised that anyone could predict brightness of a new comet over a year in advance. They normally can't predict it right even for well know ones. Neuro's weather prediction is more likely to be right.

 

[bchernicoff]

Others have pointed out similar predictions for a comet in 1973 that turned out to be much dimmer. I'm not an astronomer but look forward to taking an amateur's stab at it should the predictions prove accurate.

 

[AJ]

Indeed, a brightness of "1000 times brighter than Venus" is a bast-case scenario. This comet may very well fizzle out before it becomes visible to the naked eye. It may very well be a new comet fresh out of the Oort cloud, composed mainly of volatile compounds that easily dissipate.

However if the comet does indeed reach those optimistic predictions then it'll be visible for more than a month. Plenty of time for photography. Let's hope for the best!