Friday, October 5, 2012

New Comet Discovered—May Become "One of Brightest in History


According to National Geographic, a new comet has been discovered which may become "One of Brightest in History".  If astronomers' early predictions hold true, next year may hold a glowing gift for stargazers: a super bright comet (named: 2012 S1) just discovered streaking near Saturn. 

It's still unclear where the comet came from but its orbit suggests the comet may be a runaway from the Oort cloud, where billions of comets orbit about a hundred thousand times farther from the sun than Earth is.  Because 2012 S1 appears to be fairly large—possibly approaching two miles (three kilometers) wide—and will fly very close to the sun, astronomers have calculated that the comet may shine brighter, though not bigger, than the full moon in the evening sky.

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