Here’s When & Where To See Comet 46P/Wirtanen Over Maine

One of the biggest celestial events of the year happens this week as a meteor shower  peaks and a comet passes by!

Comet 46P/Wirtanen will pass by this Sunday night, December 16th, and it will be the nearest to planet Earth that it has ever been in the past 400 years!   It will be visible to the naked eye above the eastern horizon. Want to see it better?  Than use a telescope or even binoculars.

Of course the best place to view a comet would be on higher ground and the darker the area the better!  Remember, the majority of Acadia National Park's Park Loop Road remains closed for the winter, so if you'd like to view the comet from the summit of Cadillac Mountain, then you'll have to hike up there.

Now don't get the Comet 46P/Wirtanen confused with this week's Geminid meteor shower, which will peak this Thursday and Friday, Dec. 13-14.  With that, hundreds of meteors could streak across the sky at any given moment, so, a pretty exciting week above to say the least.

If you miss it this Sunday night, don't worry, you'll still be able to see on a clear night  from now until about the end of this month, according to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center.