If you were interested in the recent lunar eclipse that wasn't even visible to the naked eye in Saskatchewan, then you'll surely be excited to know that this week you'll be able to see a comet rocketing across the midnight sky. The NEOWISE comet as it's known will be the brightest comet seen in our region in 30 years, not something to be scoffed at and definitely not something you'll want to miss.

Pierre Schierle, the president of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada Regina Centre is well-versed on all things Outerspace. He gave a great overview of what a comet is and how to go about seeing it.

"The best time to look for this comet is late at night. It's very low in the northern sky. You kind of have to wait for it to get dark and wait for the comet to get high enough to see. Around 11:30 or later you should be able to see it."

Schierle also said that you'll want to be in a spot where everything is open so as to not have any trees or houses in the way. The comet will be a short distance above the horizon in the sky so avoiding obstacles could be the difference between seeing it or not.

If you plan on seeing the comet you'll have to do so in a timely fashion. You have until approximately the end of this week to see it but the longer you wait the better chance it's no longer emitting enough light to be seen from Earth. 

"Think of it as a giant snowball. It's just a big ball of rock and ice and dust and stuff like that all frozen together. As it comes by the sun it starts to melt and because it's moving very fast that's why a tail streams off of it and the solar wind pushes the tail away from it."

He added that the core of the comet is what really heats up and its glow is the reason we are able to see the comet from so far away. 

Comets are an infrequent occurrence for the most part. On average they will shoot by around every 10 years, but with that said some years they are visible with a naked eye from earth one after the other. An example of the frequency varying can be seen by looking at 2020 itself. Up to this point, there were predicted to be three comets to have been able to be seen, this is the first to actually do so. 

Schierle suggests looking at the comet through binoculars. There should, in theory, be no trouble seeing the phenomenon if you go through the previously stated steps at night and looking directly northward.