After 69 years of wandering the depths of our solar system, a comet, known as 13P/Olbers, will grace our skies close enough to be seen with binoculars or a small telescope.
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Comet 13P/Olbers, currently located in the constellation Leo Minor , is rapidly traversing space. At its closest approach, the comet was 283 million kilometers from Earth on July 20.
While its magnitude of 7.1 means it's not visible to the naked eye, skywatchers in the Northern Hemisphere can still easily spot it as a fuzzy ball about 20 to 30 degrees above the horizon, about two hours after sunset, according to Universe Today. Its altitude and brightness mean you'll need a fairly unobstructed view of the horizon and binoculars or a telescope to see Comet 13P/Olbers as it passes near the galaxy NGC 3219 in Leo Minor, whose location can be used as a reference for computerized telescopes, EarthSky reported.
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Comet 13P/Olbers is named after German astronomer Heinrich Olbers, who first identified the space rock in 1815.The letter P means that Comet Olbers is periodic, a designation given to space rocks with orbits shorter than 200 years. The number 13 means that it was the 13th comet to be recorded as periodic.
Comet Olbers was last seen from Earth in September 1956.After this summer, its next close approach will be in 2094.
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During its 69-year orbit around our sun, the comet moves just outside Earth's orbit, all the way to Neptune and beyond. Because it comes close enough to Earth, NASA classifies Comet 13P/Olbers as a near-Earth asteroid. However, there is no risk of it hitting Earth.
Source: space.com
