Yahoo奇摩新聞 跨年不想人擠人 來看彗星伴新月吧
If you're looking for an extra dose of fireworks this New Year's Even, look to the skies for the chance to see a comet that only comes around every five years.
The comet — named Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdušáková — is set to appear somewhere near the crescent moon on Dec. 31. It won't be visible to the naked eye, however.
Interested skywatchers will need a set of binoculars or a small telescope to really be able to see the comet in clear skies.
While comets have historically been seen as bad omens, Comet 45P doesn't pose a threat to Earth. The ball of ice and dust will still be millions of miles from the planet when it makes its close flyby this month.
This isn't the comet's first pass of the planet. Comet 45P makes a full orbit of Earth every 5.25 years, allowing scientists to track it.
These "periodic comets" are on predictable paths around the sun and can lend themselves to some good skywatching. (Halley's comet, for instance is also a periodic comet.)
Comet 45P — which like other comets is thought to be a leftover piece of ice and rock from the beginning of the solar system — has been gracing skies for most of December, first appearing on Dec. 15 when it was visible near the star cluster M75.
And the comet isn't the only cosmic sight in the sky on Dec. 31.
Image: nasa
Mars, which has been visible for most of the month, will look like it's right next to the blue/green tinted Neptune even though the two are millions of miles away from each other in reality.
Venus, which can masquerade as a bright star at dawn or dusk, will also be visible in the western sky along with Neptune and Mars on New Year's Eve.
"Through telescopes, rusty red Mars and blue-green Neptune‘s colors contrast beautifully," NASA said.
December in general is a pretty solid month for skywatching. However, the Geminid meteor shower, usually one of the best annual showers of the year, was washed out by a bright moon this year.
美國國家航空暨太空總署（NASA）表示，在12月31日晚間全球迎接新年時，將有一個彗星劃過月亮旁，猶如天然煙火點亮夜空。
名為「45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova」的彗星屆時將從新月旁飛過，但不易以肉眼看到，必須藉助雙筒望遠鏡來抓住那一瞬。
這顆有著明亮藍中帶綠「頭部」的彗星，大約每5年會返回太陽系。在英國當地時間31日約晚間6時30分，朝西往摩羯星座方向看，彗星將出現在靠近新月旁。
NASA表示，在2017年前夕，彗星與新月將共同向2016告別，若想盡可能看到這些星體，觀星者所能做的就是盡量遠離都會區的光害，找個有清徹、無雲夜空的位置。
