Giant comet K2 to make its closest approach to Earth; here’s when & how to watch

The official time of closest approach will be 11:09 p.m. EDT (0309 GMT July 14), when the comet will be 1.8 astronomical units from the center of our planet, according to data from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The comet will be 1.8 astronomical units from the center of our planet, according to the data.

K2 is considered as one of the farthest active comets ever spotted.

As the comet will be a little far and faint, it probably won’t be visible to the naked eye. Experts say people will need at least a small telescope or binoculars to see it.

Apart from that, you can also watch the comet make its closest approach later this month by tuning into a live webcast planned by the Italy-based Virtual Telescope Project. The path of the comet at 6:15 p.m. EST. will be broadcast live on [3:45 am IST on July 15] On the official YouTube channel of Virtual Telescop.

It said, “Next 14 July, comet C/2017 K2 Panstarrs will be at about 270 millions of km from our Earth, its minimum distance from us. This large (18 km or less, assuming data from HST) comet will not be visible by naked eye, as it will stay very far from us. The Virtual Telescope Project will show it live, online: this way, you can have a look from the comfort of your home. The live feed will start on 14 July 2022 at 22:15 UTC i.e. 3:45 am on 15 July as per Indian Standard Time (IST).

K2 is an Oort cloud comet with an inbound hyperbolic orbit, discovered in May 2017 at a distance beyond the orbit of Saturn when it was 16 AU (2.4 billion km) from the Sun..

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