A comet with two tails will be visible with binoculars starting on New Year’s Day through mid-January.
Comet Catalina, not visible to the naked eye, can now be seen in the northern hemisphere with the aid of binoculars. Catalina, which became visible in late 2015, will continue to fly through the night sky until being fully ejected from the solar system, if it follows its current path.
Comet magnitudes indicate the visibility of a comet, and whether comet-watchers can see the objects in the sky with a naked eye, or with the assistance of binoculars or telescopes. The scale starts at +1, the brightest, and moves to higher numbers the less visible a comet is, with naked-eye visibility ending at +5, and that being on a clear night in a place with very little light pollution. While the comet is currently rated at a +6 visibility magnitude, astronomers say that Catalina could still suddenly become brighter due to an outburst of dust and gas.
Gary Boyle, a Canadian astronomer, points out that the comet can still be caught on camera. He recommends setting up the camera with a 30-second exposure, ISO 1600, to properly catch the comet.
What people will see with binoculars over the next few weeks is this fuzzy blob in the sky, a bit of color to it, little bit green […] Any kind of digital camera now… can take some pretty impressive shots of this comet.
Originally thought to be from the Oort cloud, Catalina was discovered in 2013 by Catalina Sky Survey, an Arizona-based organization that looks for potentially hazardous objects close to Earth’s orbit. The 20 km-long comet was originally thought to be an asteroid, but under further observation was determined to have an parabolic orbit and modest cometary activity.
Other comets to watch for in 2016 include 252P/LINEAR (magnitude +9 or +10, March), PanSTARRS (magnitude +6.5-+9, June/July), and 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova (magnitude +7, late December).
