Nearest comet passage of 246 years

OSLO. Looking at the solar eclipse.Photo: Sara Johannessen / SCANPIX .

Several comets are heading toward Earth, and on Tuesday one of them will pass closer than any comet since 1770.

So says astrophysicist Knut Jørgen Røed Ødegaard.
Monday and Tuesday hazards two small comets will be travelling past Earth at a very short distance. According to  the astrophysicist this is actually a single that has begun to disintegrate.
On Tuesday passing the smallest of comets will be passing the earth at a shorter distance than any comet has done in 246 years. It is only in recent weeks that astronomers has become aware of the small comet, which seems to have loosened a bit  from the main comet. It will speed past Earth at a distance of “only” 3.4 million kilometers at the closest.
According to Roed Odegaard there is only one comet that has been observed even closer Earth. This happened in 1770 when Lexells comet passed at a distance of 2.2 million kilometers .
The comets are hardly visible from Norway, but at southern latitudes, the largest comet, which is between 120 and 400 meters in diameter, may be glimpsed in the night sky as a green spot that slips between the stars.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today