Comet Lemmon:

 

Comet Lemmon at about 92 million miles (0.99 AU) from Earth on January 28, 2013. The green color comes from the gases that make up its coma. (cyanogen and diatomic carbon)

 

 

 

 

 Comet Lemmon is on an elliptical orbit with a period of approximat...ely 11,000 years. This is its first visit to the inner solar system in a very long time. The comet is brightening as it approaches the sun; light curves suggest that it will reach 2nd or 3rd magnitude, similar to the stars in the Big Dipper, in late March when it approaches the sun at about the same distance as Venus (0.7 AU). (It is currently a 7th magnitude star)

Photo by an astronomer, Rolf Wahl Olsen from his backyard in Auckland, New Zealand