Comets to Swerve Close to Earth
An emerald-green comet will brush the Earth Monday, followed one day later by a kissing cousin that will swerve closer to the planet than any other comet in nearly 250 years.
The first and bigger of the two comets will be visible Monday to the naked eye in the southern hemisphere, as long as city lights are far away.
The first member of the pair, known as comet 252P/LINEAR, is a bright green colour from the carbon gas it’s puffing out, says the University of Maryland’s Matthew Knight. 252P will slide past Earth at a distance of roughly 3 million miles. That’s well beyond the moon but near enough to put 252P in the top 10 of closest-approaching comets.
252P wasn’t expected to get terribly bright, but it has been surpassing all expectations. It may even be visible to the unaided eye in southern hemisphere suburbs where light pollution is low.
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