COMET AND GOETH 2016 BA14 AND 252P LINEAR TO SWING CLOSE TO EARTH 3.5 MIILLION MILES AND 5.2 MILLION MILES THIS MARCH, 2016

A COMET is set to skim by tonight in a historic encounter of Earth-shattering proportions. Well not quite. But only two other comets have come closer in recorded history.

The mundanely named Comet P/2016 BA14 is set to pass within 3.5 million kilometres about 1.30am tonight.

We’re not likely to notice.

Even in such an historical proximity, it’s not going to be visible to the naked eye.

Only professional-quality telescopes will be able to discern the hurtling bundle of rock and ice from its starry background.

It was only discovered two months ago.

But it’s not a threat, says NASA.

Nor is its tail: It’s simply not big enough.

“March 22 will be the closest Comet P/2016 BA14 gets to us for at least the next 150 years,” Paul Chodas, manager of the Center of Near-Earth Object Studies at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said.

ASA thinks P/2016 BA14 (BA14 for short) is a fragment of another comet on a similar course — the 230m wide 252P/LINEAR.

That one passed us at a mere 5.2 million kilometres yesterday.

http://www.news.com.au/technology/science/space/comet-p2016-ba14-passes-overhead-tonight-its-the-third-closest-flyby-in-recorded-history-but-you-wont-see-it-coming/news-story/205df37f434ca776870e9e0dd9885fd1