Christmas Comet, the brightest comet of the year to come close on Dec 16

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Representational Image
Representational Image

New Delhi : Its Christmas months and besides celebration on the earth, the festivity will take place on the galaxy too. Just, a few days before the Christmas, a comet will be making a close pass of Earth on December 16. Tagged as 'Christmas Comet', it is believed to be the brightest comet of the year.

Christmas comet, Comet 46P/Wirtanen will have close encounter on December 16, according to NASA. It will be at its closest distance to Earth in over four centuries.

Christmas comet, which is a member of the Jupiter family of comets is bright enough to see with the naked eye above the eastern horizon all month long, and can be seen even better with a telescope or binoculars. Therefore, stargazers must get ready to capture the spectacular moment right before Christmas. 

Sky watchers are lucky because, the comet is not the only bright show gracing the sky this month. The Geminids, 2018’s best meteor shower will also take place in the early mornings of December 13 and December 14. At its peak, close to 100 meteors per hour will streak across the sky in a brilliant light show.

The Geminids are active every December, when Earth passes through a huge trail of dusty debris shed by a weird, rocky object named 3200 Phaethon. The dust and grit burn up when they run into Earth’s atmosphere in a flurry of “shooting stars,” NASA posted on its Watch the Skies blog.

The nearly First Quarter Moon sets around 10:30 p.m. local time, so wait until then to go out, NASA advises. 

As night will go deep, the Geminid rate will increase, hitting a theoretical maximum of about 100 per hour around 2 a.m. So, be ready to feast your eyes with about 30 minutes’ glorious event.