Seeing a comet blaze across the night sky is always a rare treat. With last month’s Comet Atlast breaking up and fizzling out, we’re eager for another one to make an appearance. Lucky for us, Comet Swan is expected to be especially bright in the upcoming days. In fact, astronomers say you should be able to spot it with your naked eye. Consider this an excuse to go out and gaze at the stars this week, because it’s brightening quickly and it should be an awesome sight to see.
C/2020 F8 (SWAN), or simply Comet Swan, was discovered with images taken from the Solar Heliospheric Observer spacecraft on March 25, 2020. With an 18-day observation arc, you'll want to be sure to catch a view of this comet as it flies across the night sky this month.
Passing Earth at a distance of 75 million miles, Comet Swan is expected to be closest to us and therefore most visible on the evening of May 13. As is always true of stargazing, it'll be best to get as far away from light pollution as possible to see the comet.
The comet may even be visible to stargazers right now, especially underneath an extra dark sky far away from city lights. Don't give up if you can't find it right away. The comet is expected to brighten until the last week of May.
Keep an eye out for its greenish tinge and long blue tail. Unlike asteroids which are made predominately of rock, comets are composed mostly of ice—hence their green color.
You won't need any special equipment to see the comet, although a pair of binoculars or a telescope certainly wouldn't hurt. There are also tools available online, like TheSkyLive, that can help you pinpoint exactly where Comet Swan is in the night sky.
Considering it was only recently discovered, there's not a lot known about Comet Swan yet. However, one researcher at Space.com has made the discovery that Comet Swan is traveling around the sun every 25 million years. This means the last time it was visible from Earth might've been during the Oligocene Epoch.
Earlier this year, Comet Atlas left many stargazers disappointed when it quickly faded after crumbling into several pieces. Could Comet Swan suffer the same fate? There's no way to know for sure, so you'll just have to make sure to see it as soon as possible!
