Green, two tailed comet, comes closest to earth Tuesday

BEIJING. February 24. KAZINFORM Comet Lulin, a two-tailed green-colored comet, will make its closest approach to Earth on Tuesday.

It'll still be 61 million kilometres away -- about 160 times the distance between the Earth and the moon. But for most locations in the Northern Hemisphere, it should be visible to the naked eye in dark locations over the next few days, according to NASA. The comet is expected to appear about a third of the way up the southern sky, a few degrees from Saturn in the constellation Leo. Lulin appears green in photographs taken through a telescope because the gases gushing from its surface include two that appear that color -- cyanogen and diatomic carbon. The comet looks like it has two tails because of its orientation relative to the Earth, which creates the optical illusion of a second tail called an "anti-tail." Scientists are using NASA's Swift Satellite to track and study the comet as it approaches. So far, the satellite's data show that Lulin is shedding enough water to fill an Olympic-size swimming pool every 15 minutes, as the sun boils its surface material away. The comet was discovered in 2007 by astronomers from the Chinese mainland and Taiwan. This week will probably be humanity's only chance to see Lulin. The comet appears to be on its way out of the solar system for good. Lulin will finally fade from our view by mid-March, Kazinform cites Xinhua.