Bright Comet Brings Dazzling Sky Show This Month

Stargazers have an exciting month coming up, as the bright comet C-2011 PANSTARRS finally becomes visible in the Northern Hemisphere.

"The comet passed within 100 million miles of Earth on Tuesday, its closest approach in its first-ever cruise through the inner solar system. The ice ball will get even nearer the sun this weekend -- just 28 million miles from the sun and within the orbit of Mercury," writes Time.

"The best viewing days should be next Tuesday and Wednesday, when Pan-STARRS appears next to a crescent moon at dusk in the western sky. Until then, glare from the sun will obscure the comet."

Those hoping to get a glimpse of the comet should head outside just after sunset, searching close to the horizon near the constellation of Andromeda in the west-northwest.

"Viewers should try to find an unobstructed, cloudless spot away from city lights and look just above the horizon in the west," says Wired. "A few days later the sun's glare will make the comet invisible, but it will reappear on March 12 or 13 near the crescent moon. The object will then be visible through the rest of the month, fading away in April or after."

The comet is named for the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System, a Hawaiian telescope set atop a volcano that first spotted the comet.

The PANSTARRS comet is likely billions of years old, originating in the Oort cloud, a band of icy bodies in the distant reaches of the solar system past Neptune and Pluto. Somehow, it was ejected from the cloud and has slowly made its way around the solar system, though this s the first time it has ventured near the Earth.