By Irene Klotz (Reuters) - A comet blazing toward Earth could
outshine the full moon when it passes by at the end of next year
- if it survives its close encounter with the sun. The recently
discovered object, known as comet ISON, is due to fly within 1.2
million miles (1.9 million km) from the center of the sun on
November 28, 2013 said astronomer Donald Yeomans, head of NASA's
Near Earth Object Program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in
Pasadena, Calif. As the comet approaches, heat from the sun will
vaporize ices in its body, creating what could be a spectacular
tail that is visible in Earth's night sky without telescopes or
even binoculars from about October 2013 through January 2014. If
the comet survives, that is. Comet ISON could break apart as it
nears the sun, or it could fail to produce a tail of ice
particles visible from Earth. Celestial visitors like Comet ISON
hail from the Oort Cloud, a cluster of frozen rocks and ices
that circle the sun about 50,000 times farther away than Earth's
orbit. Eve