There’s a bright comet in the sky, currently at magnitude 6 and predicted to brighten to 5 by November. Not yet visible in the Northern Hemisphere, but just as it peaks in brightness towards the end of November, it will start showing up in the early morning sky, gradually rising earlier every day until late January 2016

Note that a good opportunity will be around January 2nd when it will pass within 1deg of magnitude 0 star Alpha Bootis – Arcturus.  Until then, people in the south keep enjoying it, I’ll just have to wait for the cold winter nights to get a peek at this comet.

Comet C/2013 US10 is not periodic, but comes from the distant Oort Cloud and this will be it’s only recorded passage by the Sun.   After spending millions of years slowly orbiting the outer solar reaches, it got disturbed, possibly by a nearby star and is now on an ejection trajectory; its velocity is such that it will be flung into interstellar space, away from the Sun’s influence until it’s picked up by another star.

Trajectory of Comet C/2013 US10 Catalina for 2015-2016

Visibility of Comet C/2013 US10 Catalina in the Evening

Visibility of Comet C/2013 US10 Catalina in the Early Morning