Lovejoy is set to light up the sky tonight, so everyone interested to see the beauty of this rare sighting is advised to grab the opportunity since this will be the only time that the comet will pass by near the Earth for the next 8,000 years.
According to Indian Country Today Media Network, the Lovejoy comet is set to light the January skies tonight, noting that this outer space beauty will be visible to the naked eye starting Wednesday.
By appearance, Lovejoy will be seen as a fuzzy green ball with a lovely streak of blue as its tail.
It is more often than not referred to as the New Year's Comet, and it is already the fifth comet discovery for amateur astronomer Terry Lovejoy of Australia.
"It has been brightening and can now be seen from latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere, as it moves toward its closest approach to Earth on January 7, 2015," Earthsky.org said in a statement. "Then it'll be 43.6 million miles away (70.2 million km). Soon, the comet will be high in Northern Hemisphere skies!"
Interested viewers will not have any problem viewing the Lovejoy comet in the skies since the moon will not be interfering the view just like what it did during the recent Quadrantid meteor shower.
Experts say that though the beautiful sighting will be visible with the naked eye tonight, they are still advising stargazers to use binoculars and small telescopes to get a clearer view of Lovejoy, reports Express UK.
"It's a rare opportunity really to see something that came from so far away," said Astronomy Now magazine editor Keith Cooper. "If you think about where the voyager spacecraft went that was around 20 billion kilometres away. This is the region in space where comets come from and further beyond. It's really amazing to see something that has come that far. And it is made of the primordial material that the planets were made from four and a half billion years ago."
Lovejoy is formally known as C/2014 Q2. It is expected to slowly fade from the Earth's view when it starts to head back out to the orbit of Pluto, The Weather Network has learned.
The next time that humans will get the chance to see this rare comet's beauty will be 8,000 years from today.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
