Comet K2 approaches Earth July 13 and 14: Where to look

Grab your binoculars: A comet that has fascinated scientists for five years is approaching its closest approach from Earth this week — and you might catch a glimpse of it.

It is possible to see comet C/2017 K2 PANSTARRS, also called K2, on Wednesday or Thursday as it passes through the last solar system, said David Jewitt, professor of Earth, planetary and space sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles.

But not with the naked eye: experts say one would need at least a small telescope or binoculars to see it.

At about 170 million miles from Earth, Jewitt warned stargazers that comet K2 would still be quite far away. For reference, the sun is about 93 million miles away, he said.

“That’s very far away,” Jewitt, who has studied comets since 2017, told USA TODAY.

Here’s what to know about K2 and how you can look at it.

When was K2 first discovered?

Comet C/2017 K2 PANSTARRS caught the attention of experts at the Hawaii-based Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System on May 21, 2017. Experts say pre-discovery images of the comet from 2013 were later recovered.

It had traveled for millions of years from the frigid depths of the solar system, according to NASA, when it was discovered between the orbits of Saturn and Uranus about 1.5 billion miles from the sun.

K2 was the farthest active inbound comet ever seen when NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope caught it. It was observed at 17 times the Earth-sun distance, Jewitt said. Scientists announced in June 2021 that C/2014 UN271, or comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein, surpassed it as the most distant comet ever observed.

Scientists say comet K2 came from the Oort . Cloud

K2, a frozen “city-sized ball of ice and dust,” as NASA calls it, is thought to have originated in the most distant region of the solar system where many comets are believed to have originated: the Oort Cloud. NASA experts say the cloud is a giant spherical shell made of mountain-sized pieces of space debris ice or greater.

Astronomers place K2 in a part of the solar system where the sun’s rays are only 1/225th as bright as we see from Earth and where the temperature is minus 440 degrees Fahrenheit, according to NASA.

The comet was “packaged with material that has been frozen since the dawn of the solar system’s time,” Jewitt said. “When we study this comet, we try to see material that has been preserved since the beginning of the solar system.”

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How close is K2’s journey to Earth?

K2 will reach its minimum distance from our planet, about 170 million miles away, Wednesday evening, said Italy-based astrophysicist Gianluca Masi, director of the Virtual Telescope Project.

K2 is the brightest comet in the sky today, he said.

In July, the comet’s overall speed relative to Earth was an average of 21 miles per second, Masi said. When K2 reaches its minimum distance at around 11 p.m. eastern time Wednesday, he explains the comet’s speed relative to Earth will be 0 miles per second.

“If we consider the component of that velocity toward us — that is, how fast the comet is approaching or leaving us — we find that this component is 0

(miles per second) minimum distance time from us, but will remain lower than (6 miles per second) during this month,” he said.

Why K2 fascinates scientists

What makes K2 interesting to scientists is that it came from the Oort Cloud at “a great distance,” Jewitt said. Telescope data showed that K2 became active at an “unprecedented” 35 astronomical units, which represent the average distance from Earth to the Sun.

K2’s close range of about 170 million miles Wednesday night was equivalent to 1.8 au, according to data from the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies, part of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

“Neptune is 30 times the Earth-sun distance,” Jewitt said. “It’s really active very far away, and that’s why it’s scientifically interesting, because it allows us to study any process that drives activity at great distances and at very low temperatures.”

Experts believe frozen carbon monoxide has made K2 active at great distances from the sun, Jewitt said.

HOW TO ATTENTION:Supermoon, aka buck moon or thunder moon, appears in the Wednesday night sky

K2’s look won’t be ‘spectacular’ but here it is

On Thursday, the Italy-based Virtual Telescope Project plans to host a live broadcast starting at 6:15 p.m. ET for viewers who don’t own a telescope.

Jewitt noted there were “perhaps hundreds” of comets coming closer to Earth than K2 and that it would not be a “spectacular” spectacle for the general public. Masi also noted that the full moon would be in the sky on K2’s flight date, which could make it “significantly” harder to see, he explained.

But both experts agree that you’ll be able to see K2 with binoculars or a small telescope.

The comet will be visible in the constellation Ophiuchus from the northern and southern hemispheres, Masi said.

“Dark skies will offer the best views,” Masi said. He recommends observing K2 over the next few nights as the moon leaves the night sky. Looking earlier in the evening before the moon rises will provide the best views, he added.

Small telescopes will pinpoint the comet over the coming months, he said.

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