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Viewing Posts from April 5th 2024

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    When and How to Spot the ‘Devil Comet’

    As spring approaches for northern skygazers, Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks is growing brighter. Currently visible with small telescopes and binoculars, the Halley-type comet could reach naked eye visibility in the coming weeks. Seen despite a foggy atmosphere, the comet's green coma and long tail hover near the horizon in this well-composed deep night skyscape from Revuca, Slovakia recorded on March 5. M31, also known as the Andromeda galaxy, and bright yellowish star Mirach, second brightest star in the constellation Andromeda, hang in the sky above the comet. The Andromeda galaxy is some 2.5 million light-years beyond the Milky Way.

    Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks is one of the brightest known periodic comets. It earned the nickname of “devil comet” in 2023 when an outburst caused the comet to have an asymmetrical appearance, like having horns. It comes around every 71 years and is currently getting brighter as it flies toward the Sun. In the Northern Hemisphere, the …

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