Stargazers get ready! A comet that erupted in a burst of green light on 2nd July, increasing in brightness by 16 times and significantly expanding in size, is approaching Earth.

Austrian amateur astronomer, Michael Jäger, captured an image of the Comet PANSTARRS (C/2017 S3) in the night sky in the late hours of the day on the 2nd July, as the comet’s green atmosphere swelled after the explosion.

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A Facebook post from Spaceweather.com stated: “A comet that could become visible to the naked eye in August has just exploded in brightness.

“Amateur astronomer Michael Jäger‎ of Austria reports that Comet PANSTARRS (C/2017 S3) brightened 16-fold during the late hours of July 2nd, abruptly increasing in magnitude from +12 to +9.”

Surrounded by a massive gas cloud and continuing to brighten, the comet will soon be visible to the naked eye, according to the experts.

“‘The gas cloud around the comet's nucleus is about 4 arc minutes wide,’ says Jäger‎,” the post continues. “That means the comet's atmosphere is 260,000 km in diameter, almost twice as wide as the planet Jupiter. These dimensions make it a relatively easy target for backyard telescopes.”

The opportunity to see PANSTARRS (C/2017 S3) with the naked eye is rare as this will be the first time it has visited the inner planets.

First discovered on 23rd September 2017 by the Pan-STARRS (Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System) telescope in Hawaii, the comet is falling towards the sun from the Oort cloud – a theoretical thick bubble of icy debris that surrounds our solar system.

What will happen to the comet as it approaches the sun?

“It has never visited the inner planets before, and, as a result, no one can say what will happen when its fragile ices are exposed to solar heat as it approaches the sun in August,” the Facebook post from Spaceweather.com revealed.

“Previous estimates of the comet's brightness max out at magnitude +4 – that is barely visible to the unaided eye from dark-sky sites. However, additional outbursts could boost its visibility considerably.”

So when should you be able to see the green comet? It will pass closest to Earth on 15th–16th August 2018, as it travels inside the orbit of Mercury.

Follow the path of the comet on The Sky Live here.

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