<div><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>A comet called Nishimura discovered just a month ago could be visible to the naked eye tonight, offering stargazers a once-in-a-437-year chance to observe the celestial visitor.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>Scientists say that Nishimura will cross the Earth on Tuesday at a distance of 125 million kilometers from the Earth. At this time it will have a speed of 2 lac and 40 thousand miles per hour. Comet Nishimura will be visible from Earth again after 437 years.</div><div><br></div><div>The ball of rock and ice, whose exact size remains unknown, is named after the Japanese amateur astronomer Hideo Nishimura who first spotted it on August 11.</div><div><br></div><div>It is rare that comets reach their moment of peak visibility so soon after being discovered, said Nicolas Biver, an astrophysicist at the Paris Observatory.</div><div><br></div><div>"Most are discovered months, even years before they pass closest to the Sun," he told AFP.</div><div><br></div><div>The comet only swings by the Sun every 437 years, he said, a long orbital period which sees it spend much of its time in the freezing outer Solar System.</div><div><br></div><div>When comets approach the Sun from the vastness of space, the heat causes its ice core to turn into dust and gas, which form a long tail.</div><div><br></div><div>The Sun's light reflects off this tail, allowing us to view comets from Earth.</div><div><br></div><div>Nishimura, which has the scientific name C/2023 P1, will pass closest to the Sun on Tuesday night, scientists say.</div><div><br></div><div>It will be 33 million kilometres (20 million miles) from the Sun, which is less than a quarter of the distance between the Earth and the Sun, Biver pointed out.</div><div><br></div><div>The comet will then pass harmlessly by Earth at a distance of 125 million kilometres.</div><div><br></div><div>For stargazers, the comet will be easiest to observe this Saturday and Sunday, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere.</div><div><br></div><div>"The best thing to do is look at the sky before sunrise, in a northeastern direction to the left of Venus, in a clear sky, free of pollution," Biver advised.</div><div><br></div><div>People with small binoculars will easily be able to enjoy the spectacle. But, if conditions allow, the comet may also be visible by the naked eye.</div><div><br></div><div>The comet's tail is greenish, because it contains "more gas than dust," Biver said. With inputs from AFP</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>