BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Brad Klein reviews the week’s astronomical highlights with Bethlehem’s ‘Backyard Astronomy Guy,’ Marty McGuire.
This week… a visitor from deep space is nearing its closest approach to our sun. Comet 12P Pons/Brooks is known as the Devil’s Comet since its tail can appear ‘horned’ in the night sky.
No two comets are exactly the same, and so brightness, and the best time to observe the Devil’s Comet, can be hard to predict. McGuire says that this comet, which orbits the sun once every 71 years, is estimated to be about 18-miles across.
If it were to impact Earth, the results would be catastrophic. But McGuire says that this meteor poses no threat to our planet.
It does offer an opportunity to stargazers.
Look in the western sky just after sunset, toward the end of this month, and you may be able to spot it between the bright planet Jupiter and the horizon.
Binoculars will be necessary.
