Comet 46P Wirtanen close to the Pleiades star cluster on 16 December 2018. The comet was particularly close to Earth at million km ( million miles), one of the closest approaches of a comet in recent times. The comet orbits the Sun every years, but only occasionally it is close enough to Earth to be seen with binoculars. The comet could just be seen with the naked eye in country districts. Its green colour, typical of comets, is due to the molecule cyanogen in the comet's gaseous halo. Photo taken from Flackwell Heath, Bucks, UK. Robin Scagell

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Photo credit: © Robin Scagell/Galaxy / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: 46p, approach, binoculars, close, closest, comet, cyanogen, green, pleiades, wirtanen