(PCM) A pair of comets are set on a course to make an incredibly close brush with Earth, in fact, the brush from one of these comet will mark the closest any comet has made to our planet since astronomers first began recording comet activity. The brush with the comets is set to occur on March 21 and 22.
The two comets are traveling in nearly identical orbits around the sun and astronomers believe that they may have been part of a larger comet body that has broken apart over time. The comets passing will miss the Earth by about 2.1 million miles, which is about the equivalent of nine times the distance to the moon. While you may think that sounds like quite a bit of distance, keep in mind that no comet has passed this close to the earth in about 246 years.
Even though the comets will be passing very close to the Earth, they will unfortunately not be visible to the naked eye. A telescope will be required to view the extraterrestrial visitor, although amateur astronomers may be able to view the body with a backyard instrument. The nearest approach for 252P/Linear comet will be on March 21 at 8:14 a.m. EDT, while P/2-16 BA14 comet will be closest to Earth at 10:30 a.m. EDT on the following day.
