Once they draw nearer to the Sun, however, the intensifying heat vaporizes the fluffier surface ices in a process called sublimation and the comet seems to abruptly ignite, even though it may lie beyond Jupiter s orbit. As of April 1, its magnitude stood at 7.3, but by the following evening it had diminished to 8.5. The magnitudes of new comets are notoriously difficult to predict, as was seen with Comet Kohoutek in early 1973 and Comet Wilson in 1987, just to name two examples. Still, it might be a good idea to keep your eye on this one, in case it decides to brighten again. Look for a tenuous cottony ball of light surrounding a tiny star-like point.
Image is updated every four hours.
Put the sky in the palm of your hand. Jeff Kanipe is the author of A Skywatcher's Year , an astronomy guide just published by Cambridge University Press. The images in Skywatch are produced by Starry Night software . Tonight the comet lies in the constellation Monoceros. Over the next week, it drifts south of Orion and edges near the star Eta Leporis.