A bright green Valentine's Day comet will speed past Earth tonight
A beautiful Valentine's Day comet will speed past Earth tonight. Known as the Valentine's Day comet C/2018Y1 lwamoto, it's the first binocular comet of 2019, which means its green glow will be visible to the human eye through a pair of binoculars.
Travelling at roughly 238,000 kilometres per hour (or 148,000 miles per hour), the comet has just passed the sun and will be heading closer to Earth throughout Thursday 14th February.
It will be visible throughout the day but the best views will occur after dark. You can track exactly where the comet is in the sky using this online tool.
This particular bright green comet was only discovered recently by astronomer Masayuki Iwamoto, so you definitely don't want to miss it.
For those who don't want to brave the cold, there will also be a live broadcast as the comet travels closer, by the Virtual Telescope Project – good news if you don't own a pair of binoculars and want to watch it in the comfort of your own home.
"Seeing a bright comet close to one of the most beautiful deep-sky objects, such as the spiral galaxy NGC 2903, does not happen very often. This is why we want to make it possible for you to see this in real time, from the comfort of your desktop or living room," explained the broadcasters.
The Valentine's Day comet is not scheduled to enter our inner solar system again until the year 3390, so make sure you don't miss this one.
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