Comet may brighten for good viewing

By ELLIS KNOX reporter@campcountynow.com

If early predictions play out, comet Catalina, C/2013 U10, may brighten enough in late December and early January to be seen with binoculars and possibly even with the naked eye, as it rises higher each day in the early morning skies. The comet is on the way out and has just reappeared from behind the sun. The comet in-bound into the solar system has been out of sight of the northern hemisphere. Its perihelion was behind the sun and it reappeared in early December. For the time being it is too close to the sun for viewing, but around New Year’s Day it should begin to be visible in the early morning coming up ahead of the sun. Catalina is a new arrival and was knocked out of the Oort cloud somehow, the orbit has plotted such that this a one timer as it sling-shots around the sun its orbit will send outward bound never to return.

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