Newly discovered comet could be visible to the naked eye as it shoots past Earth and the Sun after travelling from the icy reaches of our Solar System
While the comet will be brightest as it passes Earth in early February, a fuller moon and city lights could make spotting it difficult.
It will come closest to the Sun on January 12 and pass nearest to Earth on February 1, when it will be easy to spot with a good pair of binoculars and likely even with the naked eye. However, Nicolas Biver, an astrophysicist at the Paris Observatory, said there was a possibility that after this visit the comet will be "permanently ejected from the Solar System".Biver said the comet was believed to have come from the Oort Cloud, a theorised vast sphere surrounding the Solar System that is home to mysterious icy objects.
But the newest visit will come closer to Earth, which "may make up for the fact that it is not very big", Biver said, adding that "we could also get a nice surprise and the object could be twice as bright as expected."
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