Huge ‘cosmic snowball’ Comet K2 fades in the sky, but you can still see ‘giant comets’ this summer – here’s how – Liku

The giant icy comet that made its closest approach to Earth on Thursday can still be spotted.

Using a telescope, you can see Comet K2 receding in the sky in the constellation Ophiuchus.

The comet, dubbed C/2017 K2, entered our inner solar system at regarding 615 km/s.

John Chumack of galacticimages.com spotted the blob in the constellation Ophiuchus when the comet was closest to Earth.

“Look for a six-inch coma,” Chamark told Space.com.

What is a comet?

Comets are “cosmic snowballs of frozen gas, rock, and dust,” according to NASA.

They are made from the remnants of the solar system’s formation.

As a comet approaches the Sun, it forms a “tail” of gas and dust particles that turns away from the large star.

C/2017 K2 was discovered in May 2017 at a distance beyond Saturn’s orbit – when it was regarding 2.4 billion kilometers from the sun.

NASA has revealed that K2 has traveled millions of years from its home in the Oort Cloud at the edge of our solar system.

The Oort Cloud contains hundreds of billions of comets, however, K2 is one of the largest comets we’ve ever observed.

In fact, K2’s tail, or coma, is between 81,000 and 500,000 miles wide — the equivalent of one to six Jupiters.

Since July 2007, K2 has been located in the constellation Draco, regarding 309 light-years from Earth.

Make sure you watch it on a dark night when you can see the stars, says Mashable.

You may need to refer to a star map first to locate Ophiuchus.

Then, look for a fuzzy comma inside the stellar neighborhood, that’s the K2 Comet.