NASA said, Stargazers are in for a treat as the brightest comet is set to make one of the 10 closest comet flybys of Earth in 70 years and one may even be able to see it without a telescope on Sunday. 46P/Wirtanen(comet) will approach 11.4 million kilometers or 30 lunar distances from Earth. Wirtanen has already been visible in amateur telescopes.
Comet pass through the observing field of TESS(Transisting Exoplanet Survey Satellite).
Brightness of the telescope difficult to predict and there is a possibility to visible in binoculars or to the naked eye NASA said. Paul Chodas, manager of the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California said, this will be the closest comet has come to Earth for centuries and the closest it will come to Earth for centuries. This could be one of the brightest comets in years, offering astronomers an important study a comet come up close with ground based telescopes, both optical and radar. Comet as it comes within 7.1 million miles of the Earth( a proximity that won't happen again for 20 years) (How and where to Spot)(about 30 times the distance of the Earth to the moon).
Scientific observation campaign of the assures us there's "no chance of the comet hitting Earth". Comets are ball of ice and rock that form tails of debris as they approach the sun. The sun melts some material off the comet.But the the quantity of material in the comet's tail is not stable. The night sky will come alive this weekend when a green comet streaks by Earth on the heels of the Geminid meteor shower's display of green fireballs. Since 1950 because few comets are ever bright enough to be seen with the naked eye.
Astronomer Carl, a senior observing assistant at California's lick Observatory. discovered Wirtanen in 1948, 46P/Wirtanen, with a width of 1.1 kilometres, orbits the Sun fairly quickly for a comet once every 5.4 years making it a short period comet (Long period comets orbital periods greater than 200 years.) comet will appear to be located in the constellation Tarus close to the Pleidas, when appear closest.
Astronomers led by the University of Maryland are planning an observation campaign and target a detailed study of the properties of this hyperactive comet which emits more water expected, given its relatively small nucleus. The Christmas comet appears in our sky once every years as it orbits the sun.It was closest to the sun on December 12.
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