A comet is going to fly relatively close to Earth on Saturday , April 1 . Despite being April Fools ’ day , this comet is very real – although it poses no scourge to us .
It ’s called Comet 41P / Tuttle - Giacobini - Kresák ( T - G - K ) , and was discover back in 1858 by astronomer Horace Tuttle . It was later rediscover by Michel Giacobini in 1907 and Ľubor Kresák in 1951 , hence the rather wordy name .
It belongs to a chemical group of comet jazz as the “ Jupiter comet ” , which are comets that have been captured by the gravity of Jupiter and swing between the gas giant and the Sun . It take about 5.4 years for this comet , which is about 1.4 kilometer ( 0.9 mi ) across , to complete an orbit around the Sun .
On Saturday , it will eliminate closer to Earth than at any compass point since 1858 . It will be 21.2 million klick ( 13.2 million miles ) away on April Fools ’ Day , about 55 times further than the Moon . It will appear in the far northerly sky , between the constellation of Ursa Major and Draco the Dragon .
That might sound far , but it will be close enough for the comet to be hit the books by telescope on Earth . And harmonise toSpace.com , there is a little chance it may experience a dramatic outburst in brightness if it repeats activity that has been see in the past .
“ In late May 1973 , a few days before Comet T - G - K arrived at perihelion , the comet ’s brightness short and inexplicably surged by 10 magnitudes ; it became 10,000 time brighter over a span of just a day or two , ” writes Joe Rao , adding that “ outbursts in brightness lean to occur around the time T - G - K is make it closest to the Sun . ” That is reliable of most comet .
In all likeliness , however , the comet will be jolly unexciting , and not visible to the naked center . If it does go through a dramatic brightening event , though , it may just be visible .
But if you do desire to hitch a glimpse of it , Slooh will be showing live streamof telescope in the Canary Islands tracking the comet . The show will get on Friday , March 31 at 8.30pm EDT ( 1.30am BST on April 1 ) .
