{"id":779069,"date":"2024-03-17T13:12:42","date_gmt":"2024-03-17T18:12:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=779069"},"modified":"2024-03-17T13:12:42","modified_gmt":"2024-03-17T18:12:42","slug":"how-to-see-the-devil-comet-visible-in-the-night-sky-npr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=779069","title":{"rendered":"How to see the ‘devil comet’ visible in the night sky : NPR"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n People await the partial lunar eclipse over Vienna, on July 16, 2019. Astronomers say the comet 12P\/Pons-Brooks will soon be visible to the naked eye.
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Georg Hochmuth\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

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People await the partial lunar eclipse over Vienna, on July 16, 2019. Astronomers say the comet 12P\/Pons-Brooks will soon be visible to the naked eye.<\/p>\n

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Georg Hochmuth\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

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A rarely-seen comet with a reputation for colorful flare-ups is once again visible from Earth.<\/p>\n

Even more unusual is that the latest arrival of the comet \u2014 known officially as 12P\/Pons-Brooks \u2014 coincides with next month’s total solar eclipse and could be spotted during the event.<\/p>\n

According to NASA, comets are frozen artifacts from the solar system’s formation made of dust, rock and ice. Up to tens of miles wide with tails millions of miles long, comets heat up and grow brighter as they get closer to the sun. <\/p>\n

The comet 12P\/Pons-Brooks takes 71 years to fly around the sun and will next reach perihelion \u2014 the point in its elliptical orbit when it’s closest to the sun \u2014 on April 21.<\/p>\n