Tuesday, 12 July 2022 – 06:12 WIB
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VIVA – A comet big will fly across Earth with safe. Comet C/2017 K2 (Panstarrs) or K2 is one of the most distant active comets ever seen.
This small object will be shot close to the planet on July 13, 2022 with a relatively far distance. The official closest approach time is July 14 at 11:09 am EDT or July 15, 2022 at 10:09 am WIB.
By then, the comet will be 1.8 astronomical units from the center of our planet, according to data from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Although the comet will be a bit distant and dim, this phenomenon is still something that is fun for amateur astronomers.
Quoting from the site SpaceTuesday, July 12, 2022, Comet K2 visible far in the outer Solar System and is gradually getting close enough to Earth that it can be seen with binoculars or a telescope in 2017.
EarthSky predicts the comet to be as bright as magnitude 7. It will brighten as it approaches Earth as it gets closer to the Sun.
Currently, Comet K2 is still too faint to be seen with the naked eye. The object can only be seen with the naked eye in dark sky conditions with a magnitude of 6.
However, for amateur observers who have binoculars or a telescope, magnitude 7 is well within reach. If visible, the comet will likely appear to be quite diffuse as it releases gas due to the heat and pressure of the Sun affecting its surface.
Professional observatories will be interested in studying the size of the nucleus. The Hubble Space Telescope indicates that it may be only 11 miles (18 km) in size, while the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) suggests a distance of between 18-100 miles (30-160 km).
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