This photo of the Devil Comet or P12/Pons-Brooks was taken in Germany on March 8.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Wikimedia Commons/ Sven Kreiensen
March 22, 2024 - 6:00 AM
A comet that has been approaching Earth for seven decades is becoming increasingly visible with binoculars and could potentially be observed with the naked eye by the end of the month.
The 12/Pons-Brooks comet has a roughly 71-year orbit around the sun and is known for its sudden bright flare-ups, according to Space.com.
Comets are made up of dust, frozen gases, ice and rocks and as they approach the sun they get warmer and brighter as the ice turns to gas.
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The comet is known as the Devil Comet because of the shape of the comet’s coma — the cloud around it’s centre — looks like two devil horns.
With an estimated diameter of 17 kilometres, the comet was discovered in 1812 by astronomer Jean-Louis Pons and spotted again in 1883 by comet observer William R. Brooks.
The comet will begin to fade in mid-April, gradually becoming more visible to viewers in the southern hemisphere. Later in the year, it will move back out into space for another long orbit around the sun to reappear in 2095.
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