Comet to pass Earth close enough for binoculars

For those of us who are interested in astronomy but don't have the equipment to really take a peer into space, there will be an interesting opportunity this week. A comet named "Comet Jacques" will be passing Earth close enough to be viewed by binoculars.

The people at the Southern Observatory for Near Earth Astroids Research (SONEAR) in Brazil saw the comet months ago with their high tech equipment, but now you can see it with something many people only use for looking at birds.

The comet is named after an employee of SONEAR, Comet Jacques is expected to be incredibly bright. As long as your binoculars have at least 7x50 power, you'll have no problem viewing the fleeting spectacle.

When you're looking in the sky, look toward the constellation Cygnus to see Jacques. According to space.com, you won't see much of a tail on the comet unless you take a picture of it. The comet will be viewable from pretty much anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere.