For avid sky-watching enthusiasts, comet It provides a rare opportunity to observe some of the solar system’s most dynamic objects. These ice visitors spend most of their lives in the frigid outer reaches. solar systemIt only occasionally gets close enough to the sun that the ice evaporates and flares into a bright coma and tail.

When that happens, the night sky becomes a kind of shared laboratory. Researchers collect data, amateur astronomers track nightly changes, and the public has a rare opportunity to see objects visibly moving in the sky.