Bright green comet 21P will light up the skies of September

Do not expect to see anything resembling the photographs in the article. These photographs are taken with very long exposure times - far longer then the human eye is capable of.

Through a pair of binoculars, you will see a faint smudge (Which you will have to pick out among a sky full of other faint smudges.)

Actually, come to think of it - don't wait - grab a pair of binoculars, and look at a clear night sky, preferably away from a city. It'll be absolutely covered in stars, and star clusters. (Which look like faint smudges)

> When and where to look

> The comet will be primarily a morning object all through September, well-placed for observation in the after-midnight and predawn hours. Currently, Giacobini-Zinner is located in the constellation of Auriga, the charioteer. In the nights that follow its closest approach, 21P will track on a southeastward trajectory against the background stars. On the morning of Sept. 11, the comet will reach a spot on the sky bordering three constellations: Auriga; Taurus, the bull; and Gemini, the twins.

> Make a special effort to look for 21P during the morning hours of Sept. 15; on that date, it will cross through Messier 35, a beautiful star cluster in Gemini. Of M35, the 19th century British astronomer William Lassell wrote in the “New Handbook of the Heavens” (McGraw Hill, 1948), “It is a marvelously striking object. No one can see it for the first time without an exclamation.”

> Walter Scott Houston, who wrote a column called “Deep-Sky Wonders” in Sky & Telescope magazine for nearly half a century, called M35 his “personal favorite open cluster.” In this cluster, faint stars form curves and festoons, with a reddish star in the center. This cluster will be the backdrop for 21P on the morning of Saturday, Sept. 15.