| Two Record Breaking Comets Approach In March – Should We be Worried?
A pair of comets showing very similar orbits are approaching Earth, and astronomers will use radio-telescopes to obtain radar images, while advanced amateurs may capture images of each of the twin comets. While both will pass at a safe distance, one of them will have a record-breakingly close flyby. Comet 252P/LINEAR 12 was already known to be passing by Earth on March 21, 2016 at a distance of 3,290,000 miles (5.3 million km). This is about 14 times the Earth-Moon distance, and, taken by itself, sets no record. Astronomers Matthey Knight, Michael S. P. Kelley and Silvia Protopapa detected the tail on object "2016 BA14" using the Discovery Channel Telescope, which is operated by the Lowell Observatory. Did comet 252P split in two? We may find out soon. Comet P/2016 BA14 (Pan-STARRS) will safely pass Earth on March 22,2016, passing even closer than comet 252P. Comet P/2016 BA14 flyby will be at just 2,199,933 miles (3.5 million km) or about 9 lunar distances, which is very close for a
