A newly discovered comet Lovejoy is set to greet the stargazers this New Year as it will be offering its brightest glow throughout most of January. According to the astronomers, the New Year’s comet is expected to burn brightest on Wednesday (January 7).
The comet was discovered by Australian amatuer astronomer Terry Lovejoy on August 17, 2007, just after the dawn from his rooftop observatory in Queensland, Australia.
Scientists said Comet Lovejoy is presently shining at a magnitude of +5.0 and will glow the brightest on Wednesday and will shine more than double in brightness by mid-January 2015.
The astronomers said Comet Lovejoy will be brightest on January 7 because at that day it will come closest to Earth, i.e. just 43.6 million miles away.
Comet Lovejoy, which is also known as C/2014 Q2, will be passing the constellation Orion while moving through Taurus and into Aries in the coming weeks.
The comet is already visible to the naked eye but the skygazers in the Northern Hemisphere will have the better opportunity to see it from Wednesday.
The stargazers can identify the glowing green comet around 9 pm local time on Wednesday. And with the passing days, the comet will start climbing higher in the northern sky, which means it should be visible much earlier.
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