One of the most distant active comets ever spotted will make its closest approach to Earth on July 14, and you can catch the action live online.
A comet C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS), referred to as K2 for short, is finally making its way to Earth after Hubble Space Telescope first spotted it in the outer parts of the Solar System in 2017. At the time, K2 was thought to be the most distant active comet ever observed, although it was surpassed by a distant megacomet named Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein last year. K2 will do its thing closest approach toward our planet on July 14, when the comet will be approximately 168 million miles (270 million kilometers) from The Earth.
Viewers will be able to watch the comet’s passage online by setting up the virtual telescope project live broadcast on the webstarting at 18:15 (2215 GMT) on July 14. You’ll also be able to watch on Space.com, courtesy of the Virtual Telescope Project.
Connected: Amazing comet views from Earth and space
For the past five years, K2 has been moving steadily toward Earth. Comets, which are made mostly of frozen gases, rocks, and dust, become active when they approach the sun; the sun’s heat heats the comet very quickly, causing its solid ice to turn directly into a gas (a process known as sublimation) and forming a cloud around the comet known as a coma.
Interestingly, K2 was already active when it was first discovered in 2017 between the orbits of Saturn and Uranusabout 1.49 billion miles (2.4 billion km) from the sun, which by comparison is about 16 times farther than Earth is from the sun.
Initial observations indicated that the comet had a large nucleus and a massive coma. While the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) suggests that K2’s core may be between 18 and 100 miles (30 to 160 km) wide, data from Hubble Space Telescope indicated that it may be only 11 miles (18 km) wide, EarthSky reported.
The coming close approach of the comet therefore offers a good opportunity for professional observatories to measure how large the nucleus really is.
The rest of us can focus on the beauty of the passing body. Webcast viewers should expect to see a fuzzy light representing a coma surrounding the comet’s nucleus.
As the comet continues to make its way to inner solar system, it was also getting brighter. During its closest approach on July 14, the comet is expected to brighten to magnitude 8 or even 7, which, unfortunately, is still too faint to see with the naked eye, according to EarthSky.org. K2 will remain in the telescope’s view all summer before heading for its closest approach to the sun, which will occur on December 19.
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