Anyone who looked at the sky on April 20, 2023, could have seen it: Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks was a hundred times brighter than normal that day and was quickly dubbed the Devil’s Comet. So the official name of this cosmic snowball is 12P/Pons-Brooks, a reference to the two astronomers, Jean-Louis Pons and William R. Brooks, who discovered the comet.
12P/Pons-Brooks, like other comets, consists of a mix of dust, rocks and ice. It orbits the sun in an elliptical orbit in 71 years. As a result, it is often invisible to the naked eye, because it is too far away from us. Only when the comet passes close to the sun and the earth can we observe it. And that will be the case again soon.
How and when can you see Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks?
The European Space Agency (ESA) reports that you have a good chance of seeing this devil’s comet from the Northern Hemisphere in the coming weeks. Maybe even with the naked eye, but with binoculars the chance is slightly greater.
What exactly can you expect? When the comet comes close to the sun, its ice particles evaporate, causing the comet to drag a kind of tail behind it, which you can see from Earth. It is difficult to predict how bright the Devil’s Comet will be. But one of the best times to see 12P/Pons-Brooks may be tonight, March 27.
At the end of this month the comet will disappear again for 71 years
In the coming weeks you will also have another chance to see this comet pass by Earth. The Devil’s Comet will reach perihelion on April 21, 2024. This is the moment when the comet is closest to the sun. After that, 12P/Pons-Brooks will probably no longer be visible from the Netherlands or Belgium and you will have to wait many years again.
The comet then starts a new orbit around the sun and takes another 71 years to do so. And so it cannot be seen from Earth again until 2095.
Willeke van Doorn studied journalism, traveled the world for a while and eventually ended up at the editorial offices of Quest, National Geographic and Runner’s World via the United States, Australia and New Zealand. She is curious about the world, prefers to travel every month and always takes her running shoes with her.
