• Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, which the astronomers have dubbed the “Mother of Dragons”, is now visible after dusk in the Northern Hemisphere.

• This ‘Halley-type’ comet completes a single orbit around the Sun once every 71 years.

• It has a nucleus approximately 30 km wide.

• Like other comets, 12P/Pons-Brooks is composed of ice, dust, and rocky material. When it approaches the Sun, heat causes the ice inside the comet to turn from solid to gas.

• The gas escapes from the surface of the comet, dragging dust with it. They form a large cloud and a tail that is pushed away from the Sun by the solar wind.

• It has been observed during previous journeys through the inner Solar System, allowing astronomers to study its behaviour and characteristics over time.

• Its distinctive shape has earned it the name ‘horned’ comet, or ‘devil’ comet. 

• But, the name “Mother of Dragons” was chosen as a pop-culture reference that draws on its role as the probable parent body of the ‘kappa-Draconids’, a small annual meteor shower.

• The comet will reach its closest point to Earth in June.

• Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks won’t return to our night skies until 2095.

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