A comet the size of Mount Everest, nicknamed Mother of Dragons, is set to be visible in the sky above the UK tonight.
The comet, whose real name is 12P/Pons-Brooks, is due to return to the UK for the first time in more than 70 years. Light from the Sun will bounce off the comet tonight and will make it appear even brighter.
Eruptions that happen as the comet travels at 40,000mph have previously created a second tail, leading it to be named "devil comet" as the twin tails appear like horns.
According to the European Space Agency, comet 12P/Pons-Brooks is visible in the night sky for observers in the northern hemisphere. It added: "Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks is a ‘Halley-type’ comet with an orbital period of roughly 71 years and a nucleus approximately 30 km (18.6 miles) wide."
It will be easiest to spot if observers look out to the west just below and to the left of Jupiter just before 10pm tonight, WalesOnline reported. The comet should be bright enough to seen with the naked eyes, although a telescope or binoculars should help.
The agency continued: "Its distinctive shape has earned it the name ‘horned’ comet, or ‘devil’ comet. But we have chosen instead a pop-culture reference that draws on its role as the probable parent body of the ‘kappa-Draconids’, a small annual meteor shower that is active around 29 November to 13 December."
Mother of Dragons is also the moniker given to Game of Thrones character Daenerys Targaryen who used three dragons in the fantasy epic. Like other comets, 12P/Pons-Brooks is made up of ice, dust and other rocky materials. When it approaches the Sun, heat causes the ice inside the comet to turn from a solid into gas.
While the comet will reach its closest point to Earth in June, it won't be possible to observe the comet from the northern hemisphere. Late March and April offer the best opportunities. The comet will next return to our night skies in 2095.
Meanwhile, the Lyrids - debris from comet Thatcher - will create meteor showers which should peak in the next day or two. Dr Ed Bloomer at Royal Observatory Greenwich told The Mirror: "These shooting stars will appear to radiate from a point (the radiant) between the constellations Lyra and Hercules.
"Here in the UK, these constellations are rising from the East as evening turns to night. However, it is quite a weak shower even at its peak, so we have to set our expectations (every 60 years or so there is a flurry of increased activity, but that won't happen again for a few decades).
"Actually, once you have located the radiant, don't look at it directly, but turn about 45 degrees away to get the best chance of seeing the streaks clearly. These might only last for a second or two, so don't bother trying to take a photograph unless you're very well prepared: get out into the dark, let your eyes adjust, be patient, and enjoy the cosmic fireworks as they happen."
