Events
The comet, recently discovered by Russian astronomers, will make a dazzling flight in the sky at the end of November 2013. Experts say that it will be so bright that it will overshadow the Moon. The comet will pass very close to the Sun at a distance of less than 2 million kilometers on November 28, 2013.
If the predictions come true, the comet will become one of the largest comets in human history, and will surpass such comets as Comet Hale-Bopp in 1997 and the long-awaited Comet Pan- STARRS (C/2011 L4), which will be visible in the sky in March 2013.
A new comet, named C/2012 S1 (ISON), was discovered by the International Optical Science Network in Russia on September 21, when astronomers Vitaly Nevsky and Artem Novichonok captured it with 0.4 meter reflector.
Its almost parabolic orbit indicates that it came from the Oort Cloud, a vast region of icy objects orbiting the Sun, the pristine remnants of the solar system's formation.
The comet is currently located in the northwestern corner of the Cancer constellation. At magnitude +18, it is now too faint to see, but it will get brighter over time. By the end of November 2013, it will be visible to the naked eye, reaching maximum brightness.