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New Comet ISON Could Make Skywatchers' Year in 2013
The comet was discovered by two amateur astronomers in September.
Comet NEAT was visible from Kitt Peak Observatory in southern Arizona in 2004. Comet ISON could light up the entire northern sky late in 2013.
National Science Foundation
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Forget the Hunter's Moon in 2013.
Local skywatchers might get to see a spectacular Hunter's Comet — the newly discovered comet ISON.
A NASA astronomer says ISON's fiery tail may be visible to those watching the night sky from October 2013 through January 2014.
And the comet may hover into view without the help of a telescope.
It all depends on whether the sun's heat vaporizes ices in the comet's body, scientists say in an article posted in the Huffington Post.
Comet ISON will fly within 1.2 million miles from the sun's center on Nov. 28, 2013, astronomer Donald Yeomans, head of NASA's Near Earth Object Program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif, told the San Jose Mercury News.
If the comet makes it through the sun's heat the ISON could outshine the moon.
Last September two amateur astronomers from Russia discovered the comet.
The Huffington Post says Comet ISON's path resembles that of a 1680 comet. And that comet's tail was reportedly visible during the daytime.
2013 is set to become a two-comet year.
Comet Pan-STARRS is expected to hurl by Earth in March.
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