Ring in 2016 by witnessing a once-in-a-lifetime event - the arrival of the Comet Catalina!

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The comet Catalina is expected to be visible in the sky on Jan. 1, 2016, a.k.a. New Year's Day. It will be The comet should be within 0.4 degrees of the bright star Arcturus.

Catalina has the appearance of having two tails, due to our perspective from Earth. One tail is made of gas while the other is made of dust.

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What's especially interesting about the comet Catalina, however, is how far its come from deep space.

"Catalina is coming from very deep space, probably out in the Oort cloud - the vast repository of icy bodies far, far beyond the orbit of Neptune. Its orbit may have originally been millions of years long!" astronomer Phil Plait told Slate recently.

"But something gave it a kick - perhaps a star that passed a couple of light years away a million years ago, or the tides from the galaxy itself - and dropped it toward the Sun," he continued. "This kick also gave it a teeny bit more energy, just enough added speed that it achieved escape velocity. That means it has enough energy to escape from the Sun altogether, and is on its way out of the Solar System forever (this is technically called a hyperbolic orbit)."

The comet is also expected to be visible on Jan. 17 but then won't be seen at any point again in our lifetimes. So be sure to capture this moment if you can.

Tags: comet Comet Catalina