Comet SWAN Approaches Earth: Biggest and Brightest Comet In Decades

• nemesis maturity
  C/2020 F8 (SWAN) is currently in the constellation of Pisces and it is fast approaching Earth. The comet is 0.6 AU (58 million miles, 94 million km) from our planet . It is bright enough to see with your eyes, but even if you can’t see it with your eyes, it’s so big it’s easy to pick up in a camera. Southern Hemipsphere observers can see the amazing celestial visitor in the eastern sky before dawn. The best time to see the comet is in the early morning hours from a dark area away from city lights. According to experts, the comet is best viewed between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. Although it is getting brighter, it is also getting closer to the horizon each day as it moves towards the Sun, which will make it harder to see in the dawn twilight.
  –
  The other factor to take into account is light from the Moon. The Moon will be full on May 7, and will be in the sky all night from then making the comet harder to see in the dawn twilight. Southern Hemisphere observers will get their best view of it over the next week. At its closest approach to Earth Comet SWAN is predicted to reach a brightness of around magnitude 2.5. It’ll look like a green fuzzy blob on the eastern horizon with the naked eye. The comet will disappear below the horizon around May 17 in the Southern Hemisphere. It is travelling on a very elongated orbit that is approaching Earth from the south which is why we get a better view of it as it travels in towards the Sun. Once it has swung around the Sun on May 27, people in the northern hemisphere will get their best view. “Comets are usually a bit better on their way out than on their way in,” experts say. Stay Tuned!

end