| EarthSky
Famous comet 67P is approaching
One of the best-studied comets is 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The European Space Agency’s
Rosettaspacecraft
rendezvoused with it in August of 2014. Before the year ended, in a first, the mission had sent its Philae lander to the comet’s surface. Overall, the spacecraft traveled with the comet for two years. Comet 67P/C-G is currently approaching Earth, getting a bit closer and brighter each day. Observers are already aiming backyard telescopes its way, and more will seek this comet in the sky between now and its closest approach on November 11-12, 2021. There is no danger. At its closest, the comet will pass more than 38 million miles (61 million km) from Earth, between the orbits of Earth and Mars. But what fun to see this venerable comet through an earthly telescope! And it’ll be 67P’s closest approach for the next 193 years, until November 16, 2214.