Green comet to flyby Earth on April 1st 2017

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Green comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak is flying over Earth’s North Pole this week where sky watchers can find it all night long not far from the bowl of the Big Dipper.

At closest approach on April 1st, it will be just 21 million km from Earth.

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Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak Eats M108. By Yasushi Aoshima on March 22, 2017 @ Fukushima, JAPAN via Spaceweather

Why green?

Like many comets, 41P has a verdant hue because its atmosphere contains diatomic carbon (C2). This substance glows green in the near vacuum of space.

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Gif of the comet captured By Yasushi Aoshima on March 22, 2017 @ Fukushima, JAPAN via Spaceweather

Comet 41P is not only approaching Earth, but also the sun. April 12th is the date of perihelion (minimum distance from the sun). This means we are catching the comet just as solar heating is furiously searing its icy core.

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Comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresak. By Norbert Mrozek on March 27, 2017 @ Stottmert, Germany. via Spaceweather

The green atmosphere should be well puffed up by streamers of vaporizing gas. Optimistic estimates of the comet’s brightness place it at magnitude +6, near the lower limit of naked-eye visibility.

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Comet 41P – Bright Comet In Dipper. By Chris Schur on March 24, 2017 @ Payson, AZ. via Spaceweather

This is not a Great Comet, but it should be a good one. The best time to observe the comet is during the dark hours before sunrise when the green fuzzball is high in the northern sky.

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