A newly discovered comet could provide a spectacular cosmic show in our skies during the first month of the New Year, astronomers say.
Dubbed the New Year's Comet of 2014 -- or officially 2014 Q2 -- it may be visible to the naked eye for observers in areas with dark skies free of major light pollution, they say.
It will certainly be possible to see the comet -- also knows as Comet Lovejoy after its Australian discover Terry Lovejoy -- using a small telescope or even a good pair of binoculars, experts say.
Terry Lovejoy is a particularly successful comet hunter, having found five from his rooftop observatory since 2007.
Initially assumed to not get much brighter than an 8 on the astronomical magnitude scale, too faint for the unaided eye to see, the comet suddenly brightened in November at a rapid rate that caught astronomers by surprise.
By Dec. 26 it was at magnitude 5.3; the astronomical magnitude scale is a "reverse" scale, with the brightest cosmic objects being 0 to 1.
Observers with telescopes and binocular have described the comet as a circular spot of light, about half the apparent diameter of the moon.
Before the comet reaches it closest approach to the sun on Jan. 18, it will have made its closes pass of the Earth -- at a distance of around 43 million miles -- on Jan. 7.
The comet is moving from the south to the north in the night sky, so observers in the Northern Hemisphere will get increasingly better chances of spotting it in the weeks ahead.
Comet watchers should expect to see a fuzzy green light spot slightly below the "belt" in the constellation Orion.
The greenish color is the result of the comet releasing cyanogen and carbon gases which become fluorescent when struck by sunlight.
The comet has been in our neighborhood before, experts say, although because of its highly elongated orbit in reference to the sun that visit was around 11,500 years ago.
We won't have to wait that long for the next visit, because its present swing around the sun will cost it some energy and reduce the time length of its orbit.
So get read to look for it again -- in about 8,000 years.
