Comet and asteroid displays

2013 is the year for stargazers London - Arabstoday Two comets and two asteroids will pass close to the Earth in 2013. Stargazers can also look forward to solar eclipses in Australasia and Central Africa, as well as the launch of Europe's magnetic field mission, Swarm.  The infamous asteroid Apophis, named after the Egyptian god of darkness, will pass by the Earth - at a safe distance of almost 15 million kilometres - on January 10. Astronomers will however be anxiously following its path, and collecting data with optical telescopes and radar antennae.  This 300-metre-wide asteroid may come uncomfortably close when it passes again a decade and a half later. On April 13 2029, it will be just 30,000 kilometres (18,640 miles) away from the surface of the planet, closer than weather and communications satellites in geostationary orbit.  And seven years after that, there's a one in 100,000 chance that Apophis might even collide with the Earth - with potentially catastrophic results. So everyone has a stake in what scientists find out with their precise radar observations as Apophis passes in January - hopefully confirmation that the asteroid will miss the Earth in 2036 as well.  In mid-February, the asteroid 2012 DA 14 will give some idea of just how close the encounter with Apophis might be, as this space rock will come within 24,000 kilometres (15,000 miles) of the Earth. On the evening of February 15, stargazers will be able to watch 2012 DA14 through their telescopes as it passes through the constellations of Virgo and the Coma Berenices. As this asteroid is less than 40 metres (130 feet) wide, even if it did crash into Earth, its impact would be regional. The comet Pan-STARRS will be visible in March - an unexpected visitor from the depths of the solar system. The automatic Pan-STARRS telescope system in Hawaii spotted this chunk of ice in March 2011. Later in the year, the comet ISON may prove even more impressive. This body of ice, discovered just last September by the ISON observatory in the Caucasus, will travel around the Sun on November 28 2013, at a distance of a mere two million kilometres (1.24 million miles). Such proximity means that large quantities of ice and dust will be absolutely boiling off, so the comet should be clearly visible by day as a bright light alongside the Sun. And if it survives its close encounter with the Sun, it will stay as a shining light in the night sky in the days leading up to Christmas. The cosmic play of solar and lunar eclipses will be relatively sparse in 2013. On April 25, the full Moon will just touch the shadow of the Earth, darkening one per cent of its surface for observers in Europe, Africa, large parts of Asia and Australia. However on May 9 and 10, stargazers in Australia, Indonesia and the Central Pacific will be treated to an annular, or "Ring of Fire," eclipse of the Sun. And November 3 will see the only total solar eclipse of 2013. The zone of totality will mostly be across the Atlantic, but will also touch Gabon, Congo, Uganda and Kenya. It will be partially visible across Africa, in the far east of the United States, the northern part of South America, in southern Europe, and on the Arabian peninsula. For the European Space Agency [ESA], the high point of 2013 will be the launch of its three Swarm satellites in April. Built in Friedrichshafen by the firm Astrium, the satellites will carry out unprecedented exploration of the Earth's magnetic field. The Swarm mission cements ESA's status as a leading international player in scientific observation of the Earth. The probes have been ready for almost a year, but problems with the Russian rocket that was to carry them have meant that the launch was repeatedly postponed. In 2013, the satellites will be sending back data from their position 500 kilometres above the Earth. And China is currently planning a manned flight to its space station, Tiangong. On a political level, there are likely to be further efforts throughout 2013 to make China a partner in the International Space Station - something that, until now, the United States has categorically rejected. Source: Deutsche Welle