Comet in night sky this month will be closest for 246 years

Question 1

a.  False   comet P/2016 BA14 PanSTARRS – will soar past the planet at a distance of just 2.1 million miles, or nine lunar distances.  It is the closest a comet has flown to the Earth since July 1770, when Lexell’s Comet passed at 1.4 million miles

b.  True    Pan-STARRS– named after the observatory in Hawaii that first spotted it

c  True   some astronomers have speculated that it may be a piece of comet 252P/LINEAR 12 which has broken off. 

d  False   Comets are different to asteroids a s they are made up of gas and ice rather than rock or metal.

Question 2

a  Messier noted down that it Lexell’s Comet’s coma appeared to be four times bigger than the moon.   Captain Cook calculated its tail to be 42º long.

b  Professionals are going to examine the two comets through the Hubble Space Telescope and are hoping to find out if the 242P/LINEAR 12 comet and the Pan-STARRS comets were previously the same comet.

Question 3

a   soar    b  dim   c  (to) speculate/speculated             d  (to) give off/given off                       e  huge

Question 4

a.  If PanSTARRS’ course wasn't (so) far from the sun, it wouldn't look very/so dim.

b.  People will need very large binoculars or a decent telescope to see the comet. 

Very large binoculars or a decent telescope will be needed to see the comet.

c.  Scientists explained that light given off by the comets acted like a fingerprint so scientists would be able to work out if the bodies had originally been one.