Dubbed comet SWAN, the object has been attracting plenty of attention.
But in a new twist of events, it turns out it might not all be bad news, as ESA's sun-observing satellite Solar Orbiter, could be in the right place at the right time to encounter the comet's ion and dust tail end of May/beginning of June.
Astronomers first spotted an icy lump officially dubbed C/2019 Y4 but now known as Comet ATLAS on December 28, 2019, using an observatory in Hawaii called Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System.
"The comet is now faintly invisible to the naked eye in the southern hemisphere just before sunrise - offering celestial observers a relatively rare glimpse of its comet, which is bright enough to be seen without a telescope".
This is because of the way SWAN's 360-degree all-sky maps are shown, in a similar way to how a sphere is represented in two dimensions.
This is estimated to be 1.3 metric tons per second.
Because water is made of hydrogen and oxygen, this release made Comet SWAN visible to SOHO's instruments.
Almost all of the nearly 4,000 discoveries have been made using data from SOHO's coronagraph. While the spacecraft was created to focus on the sun, it turns out that the instruments it carries could also gather valuable information about Comet ATLAS' tail in an unprecedented observational opportunity. [INSIGHT]SpaceX Demo-2 launch: When will SpaceX launch NASA astronauts to ISS?
Once it makes contact, the instruments on Solar Orbiter that were built to study the ionized particles on the Sun's atmosphere could instead get an up-close look at how comets - or their debris - ionize their surroundings, according to research published earlier this month in the journal Research Notes of the AAS. But its side hustle is spotting comets that fizzle and sparkle as they get near the sun.
The comet's closest approach to the Sun, called perihelion, will likely take place on May 27. "Though it can be very hard to predict the behavior of comets that make such close approaches to the Sun, scientists are hopeful that Comet SWAN will remain bright enough to be seen as it continues its journey", said NASA.
Experts recommend setting up the night before the comet appears and identifying where you can easily see the northeast horizon and the constellation of Perseus.
Start looking about 60 to 70 minutes before sunrise.
Be on the lookout for a diffuse, circular glow, possibly accompanied by a faint tail pointing upward and to the right.
Then again, it's best to wake up early on Monday morning, an hour or two before dawn starts so you can prepare yourself.