Tech News Update

Stargazers could be in for a treat tonight as a spectacular double-tailed green comet flashes past Earth.

There is nothing to be concerned about: the celestial body, named ‘Lulin’, comes no closer than 38 million miles – or 160 times farther than the moon.

But the Jupiter-sized ball of ice and gas will still be visible to the naked eye. 

The stellar traveller is very active, shedding nearly 800 gallons of water each second on its journey around the Sun. That’s enough liquid to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool in less than 15 minutes.

This stunning picture shows comet Lulin glowing green in the sky as it makes its closest approach to Earth

Comet Lulin is delighting amateur astronomers who are observing it using telescopes and binoculars

‘The comet is releasing a fantastic amount of gas, which makes it an ideal target for X-ray observations,’ said Andrew Read, from Leicester University.

The tale of Lulin starts in 1996 when a seven-year-ancient boy in China bent over the eyepiece of a telescope and saw something that would change his life – a comet.

At first he thought he had learned it, but soon learned that two men named ‘Hale’ and ‘Bopp’ had beat him to it. 

Mastering his disappointment, young Quanzhi Ye resolved to find his own one one day. 

In 2007, Ye learned a comet when he was a student of meteorology at China’s Sun Yat-sen University.

He spotted it in a photo taken nights before by Taiwanese astronomer Chi Sheng Lin on ’sky patrol’ at the Lulin Observatory. 

‘It is a green beauty that could become visible to the naked eye any day now,’ said Mr Ye.

Astronomers using the Nasa Swift Satellite are tracking a spectacular comet as it closes in on Earth and sheds gas and dust from its vaporised ice. This combined view shows combined ultraviolet and X-ray images of the object 

He said: ‘My retired eyes still cannot see the brightening comet,but my 14-inch telescope picked it up quite nicely on February 1.’ 

Current estimates peg the maximum brightness at 4th or 5th magnitude, which means dark country skies would be required to see it. 

No-one can say for sure, but, because this appears to be Lulin’s first visit to the inner solar system and its first exposure to intense sunlight. 

Surprises are possible. 

Lulin’s green color comes from the gases that make up its Jupiter-sized atmosphere. 

Jets spewing from the comet’s nucleus contain cyanogen and diatomic carbon. Both substances glow green when illuminated by sunlight in the near-vacuum of space. 

To see Comet Lulin with your own eyes, set your alarm for 1 am when the comet will be highest in the sky. It will be visible due south near Saturn, moving towards the west as dawn approaches.

British astronomers from Leicester University will study the comet using the NASA Swift Satellite to find out more about its chemistry and gather clues about the origin of comets and the solar system.