| Comet Macholz | - Comet Macholz was discovered by amateur astronomer Don Macholz in August 2004
- It is a long-period comet
- It takes thousands of years to complete a single orbit around the Sun.
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 | | Orion is in pink, Comet Macholz in red |
Why is this the best time to see it? Well, it’s been visible since December but at present, it’s a mere 37 million miles from Earth, making it easily visible. If you do want to take a look, you’re searching for a little blob of cotton wool with a tail! For those with a bit of knowledge of the night sky, you should look south towards Orion. If you follow a upwards-right diagonal path from Orion’s Belt, through Taurus and the Pleiades (don’t worry if you’re getting lost at this point, just stick to the direction from the belt), and the comet will be somewhere around there.
 | | Dr Tim O'Brien of Jodrell Bank |
Dr Tim O'Brien from University of Manchester's Jodrell Bank says it is visible to the naked eye, but "with even a tiny pair of binoculars, it's quite spectacular." Once you’ve got some binoculars, you’re looking for the fuzzy blob that looks different to the stars around it (it is much closer than them). And if you are wondering whether it's worth it, Dr O'Brien says it won't be back for another hundred, thousand years, so you’d better get out there and take a look, because it’ll be the only chance you get!
 | | The southern sky (comet area in yellow) |
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