Many have been dealt with to a heart-pounding celestial happening recently when a space rock or asteroid flew really close to Earth in January, and also several stunning cosmic sights in February. A few people may even be eagerly waiting for 2022 when the Earth would demonstrate the collision of two stars.
Presently NASA affirms that people will also find the opportunity to watch the closest approach of a comet that took over a century to properly recognize - and it is going on the night of April Fools' Day! All you have to watch comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresák fly by is either a telescope or an internet connection.
As per CBS, comet 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresák has been named the "April Fools' Comet" yet take note of that the nickname is just during this year's approach. This is because comet 41P just goes by Earth in its travel amongst Jupiter and the sun every 5.4 years, and in spite of being close to the Earth for around six days, it will most be obvious or visible for your viewing pleasure on April 1. As indicated by NASA, comet 41P's 2017 approach will be the nearest to Earth recorded in a century and its brightness would permit or allow it to be seeable to the naked eye - in any event to the people in the Northern Hemisphere.
Slooh.com arranged its telescopes and live streamed comet 41P's trip as it moved toward closest to the Earth in over a century - a distance of 0.44 galactic units or 13 million miles. Watching the live version of the cosmic event is certainly a remarkable experience, however for those who did not make it to Slooh's webcast and still want to look briefly at the visiting comet, one don't need to hold up or wait another 5.4 years.
That is because comet 41P is still around and can be followed with effective telescopes until the middle of April. The only problem is that it won't be as close as it was during the live stream. One just needs to point the telescope towards Draco and Ursa Major and search for the flying object with a greenish light advancing to the sun.
