It’s not very often that we are given the chance to witness the amazing display that Comet Lulin is offering, so waking up in the middle of the night just to see it pass by is worth it. The “green comet,” as it has been described, will be at its closest distance to Earth these days.

 

But leaving aside the amateur observations, we should turn a bit to the opportunities this comet gives astronomers. NASA revealed that although they will not be able to fly a probe to Lulin, they will seize the moment of its passage to gather X-ray information on it.

 

Lulin has been dubbed the “green comet” as it exhibits a green light when illuminated by the Sun. The gases that make up the comet’s nucleus are responsible for this effect.

 

Lulin is a non-periodic comet, yet a quite active one, as Dennis Bodewits, NASA Postdoctoral Fellow at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, explained. The data obtained through the Ulraviolet/Optical Telescope revealed that Lulin sheds 800 gallons of water each second, enough to fill an Olympic-size swimming pool in less than 15 minutes.

 

According to NASA, the Swift Gamma-ray Explorer satellite is unable to see this water directly, but UV light from the sun breaks molecules into hydrogen atoms and hydroxyl molecules, making these molecules detectable for Swift’s UVOT telescope.

 

The observations have revealed that Lulin produces a hydroxyl cloud that expands 250,000 miles, roughly the distance between the Earth and the moon. Astronomers are looking forward to learning more about the comet, as it traverses our Solar System.