"DO Look Up!" -- This Weekend -- To Catch A Pre-Dawn View Of The Comet Nishimura. It Won't Return Until The Year 2435...

In the last hour or two, before sunrise this weekend -- into Tuesday, if you look toward the northeastern horizon, low in the sky -- near Venus at that time of night. . . you will seek the long hook of the constellation Leo, or the Lion. [I think Venus will be appear to be setting, as Leo is rising, then. See my illustration at right, derived from the wonderful and free Distant Suns iPhone app.]

Here are all the other sky-watching details you'll want to know, from LifeHacker online:

. . .The universe is delivering a cosmic gift this coming week -- a newly discovered comet will zip by earth to say hey before leaving our planetary neighborhood for more than 400 years. The green comet C/2023 P1, or “Nishimura,” is already visible in the predawn sky, but over the weekend it will grow brighter and should be visible without a telescope or even binoculars. . . .

On Sept. 10, it will rise at 5 a.m. It will appear closer to sunrise each subsequent morning, until Sept. 17, when it will be invisible because of the glare of the sun. Tuesday, Sept. 12 is the sweet spot: That’s the night Nishimura will be closest to the earth -- only 78 million miles from your house. . . .

Excellent (that is well inside the Earth's orbit distance -- from the Sun). As you know, interstellar celestial events. . . always fire my imagination. It was essentially. . . ever thus (away from light pollution in the high Rockies of my youth, the night sky is literally powdered with wonders). Smile.

नमस्ते