Travelers In The Night

My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Richard Kowalski has discovered an Earth approaching comet that comes within 18 million miles of our home planet. It orbits the Sun every 5 and a half years on a path that takes it from a point between the Earth and Mars out to near the planet Jupiter. Even though it is unlikely to become a bright naked eye comet or a threat to us, its discovery alerts us to the fact that there are objects like this out there.