On Sunday, the “devil’s comet” – a celestial phenomenon that hasn’t occurred since the 1950s – will be more visible as it approaches the sun.
The comet, also known as 12P/Pons-Brooks or “Comet Mother of Dragons,” will reach its perihelion, the closest point to the large star, according to Live Science.
Pons-Brooks, a frozen green ball of ice, dust and rocks, is 17 kilometers wide and will be about 230 million kilometers away from the Sun. Here’s how skywatchers can watch this rare spectacle.
How can you see the devil’s comet
For now, the celestial show can only be seen in the Northern Hemisphere.
Although there is a small chance you could see the comet with the naked eye as it approaches the sun, NASA said that the Devil’s Comet is best viewed with binoculars or a small telescope.
Space.com recommends looking for a “faint, circular patch of light” with a faintly visible gas tail pointing up and to the left of the comet’s bright head.
NASA advises skywatchers to wait until the sun sets. Look west, below the moon, and to the right of Jupiter, and you can catch a glimpse of the comet.
If you wait until an hour after sunset, Pons-Brooks sinks and can be difficult to view. The comet then marks the next hour, NASA added.
On June 2nd, Pons-Brooks will hold its closest approach to Earthbut at this point you will only be able to view it if you are in the Southern Hemisphere.
When was the last time the comet was observed?
Sightings of the Devil’s Comet are rare and considered a once-in-a-lifetime spectacle. According to Live Science, the comet ends its orbit around the Sun once every 71 years.
The short-period comet – meaning its orbital period lasts between 20 and 200 years – was last seen between 1953 and 1954, during its last pass, reported the American Astronomical Society.
“The last time people were [observing] This, they were doing it with photographic plates, they were doing it with binoculars, they were doing it with their eyes,” Theodore Kareta, a postdoctoral researcher at Lowell Observatory in Arizona, told ABC News.
What makes this comet so special?
Pons-Brooks is known as a cryovolcanic or cold volcanic comet, which is a rare type of comet due to its frequent illuminating eruptions.
In July 2023, it was nicknamed the “devil’s comet” when a large eruption within the comet caused its body to give off an asymmetrical horn-like appearance. The horns are made of gas, ice and periodic explosions.
“These explosions… [have] made this object dark enough that you could only really see it with large professional telescopes for, in some cases, something that people can see from their backyard,” Kareta said.
“There are not many comets that have flares, these sudden increases in brightness, that are this strong, and even fewer that have them a few times during an orbit,” continued Kareta.
The explosion made the comet appear 100 times brighter, according to Space.com.
There were five periodic explosions between October 2023 and January 2024.
But Pons-Brooks has lost his devil horns since crossing the solar system and missing a chunk of ice that created the horn effect, Live Science said.
“The horns are gone now,” said Bill Cooke, manager of NASA’s Meteoroid Environment program. told the New York Times. “It looks more like the typical comet that people imagine.”
After Pons-Brooks completes its orbit this time, the next chance to catch a glimpse of it will be in the summer of 2095, according to Space.com.
