A comet first discovered by a Japanese space photographer in August will make an appearance in the night sky this week as it passes by Earth, coming within 78 million miles of the planet.
The Comet Nishimura was discovered by Hideo Nishimura in early August as he was taking pictures of the night sky and happened to spot the celestial object, according to a report from EarthSky.
Since he discovered the comet, scientists have tracked the object as it continues to increase in brightness while traveling through the inner parts of the solar system in an orbit around the sun.
The comet will get its closest to Earth on Tuesday, but scientists say it will potentially be visible to those interested in spotting it for the next five days.
Nishimura is also expected to get much closer to the sun, passing by it within 21 million miles on Sept. 17, according to Alan Hale, the co-discoverer of Comet Hale-Bopp, who spoke with CNN.
Quanzhi Ye, an astronomer from the University of Maryland, shared with The Washington Post that on Sept. 17, the comet will also be at “peak brightness.”
The Nishimura Comet completes an orbit every 430 to 440 years, according to Dr. Paul Chodas, the director of NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
Chodas shared with CNN that this “means the last time it passed close to the Sun (and might have come closer to Earth) was around the year 1590, before the invention of the telescope.”
“We don’t know whether it got bright enough to be seen with (the) naked eye back then,” Chodas said.
This time around, the comet will be barely bright enough to be visible from Earth and will be moving closely to the horizon, so Chodas says that using binoculars will make viewing the comet as optimal as possible.
To view the path the comet will take through space, visit Sky and Telescope.
The figures show that the comet will pass between Earth and the sun on Wednesday, though that doesn’t necessarily mean it won’t be visible.
“In theory, it might be accessible in the evening sky within a few days after that, but it will still be quite close to the sun in the sky and will be buried in bright twilight,” Hale said. “Unless it becomes quite a bit brighter than expected, it will likely not be visible.”