Get out the binoculars, there's a comet currently in view that won't be back for over seventy years.
If you can get a few miles out of the range of city lights and get a good view of the western sky, you'll have a chance to see Comet 12P. "It's located very low in the western sky," says Bob King. The comet can be seen in the constellation Andrameda. Due to its location millions of miles away, the comet will look something like a "blob of fuzz."
Comet 12P takes an irregular route around our solar system. The path takes the comet fairly close to the sun and as far away as Neptune. The route is also not on the same plane as the planets. "The comet is tipped steeply," says King. "We have to look out of the plane and up into Andromeda."
You can hear Astro Bob's Backyard Astronomy every other Tuesday at 8:20am on Northland Morning.
