An intriguing interstellar comet from beyond our solar system will make its closest approach to the sun today Sunday (Dec. 8) and may be visible in some small telescopes, according to SkyandTelescope.com.
Comet 2I/Borisov was discovered in late August by amateur astronomer Gennady Borisov. The comet has an extremely extended orbit, which indicates it came from outside our solar system, beyond the sun's influence.
The interstellar comet is expected to reach perihelion (closest approach to the sun) today, at which point it will travel about 2 astronomical units (AUs) from the sun. One AU is the average distance between Earth and the sun, about 93 million miles (150 million kilometers). The comet will then pass closest to Earth a few weeks later on Dec. 28.