The celestial spectacle is just a few days away. McNaught’s Comet, which makes itself visible every 40 years, would streak through the southern hemisphere next month. The comet will slowly start revealing itself against the western horizon at sunset, beginning tomorrow, said astronomers.

McNaught's Comet, which gets its name after the Australian astronomer who discovered it, is said to have already appeared in the northern hemisphere and will be visible for up to one month. According to astronomers at the Australian National University McNaught's Comet will be considerably brighter than the Halley's Comet, last visible from the earth in 1986. It is five times closer to the sun than the earth and four times closer to the sun than Halley's Comet was when it was last seen, said reports.

The brilliance of a comet increases the closer it gets to the sun, and also when it passes between the earth and the sun. Aussie astronomer Robert McNaught had discovered the comet on August 7 last year using the Uppsala Schmidt telescope at Siding Spring Observatory near Coonabarabran, in central western NSW.

Elaborating on the comet, astronomers explained that it becomes visible because its made up of mixtures of dust and frozen water and frozen methane. When the sunlight hits them it boils the stuff off and steam comes off the comet , making it clearly visible.

It will be closest to earth at sunset but with less contrast against a twilight sky. McNaught's will move higher into the darkness but farther from the earth so its brilliance will lesson from Tuesday onwards. It has been estimated that the icy core of McNaught's Comet would be round 300m across and its tail could be up to three million kilometres in length.

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