• STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images
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    Comet Pan-STARRS passed within 100 million miles of Earth last week, and it's been visible in the Northern Hemisphere in the early evening.

    Above, it's seen with a one-day-old crescent moon on Tuesday, March 12, 2013, near Magdalena, New Mexico. Both were setting over the Very Large Array radio telescope antenna dishes. The comet was discovered in June 2011 by the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) in Hawaii.

  • kbaird/flickr
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    Comet Pan-STARRS and the moon from San Diego on Tuesday, March 12, 2013.

  • Minoru Toneto/spaceweather.com/AP Photo
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    This March 2, 2013, photo made available by spaceweather.com shows comet Pan-STARRS, seen from Queenstown, New Zealand. 

  • Dr. Scott M. Lieberman/AP Photo
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    Comet Pan-STARRS is seen over the tower on the left as a one-day waxing crescent moon sets in the western sky on Tuesday, March 12, 2013.

  • Ethan Miller/Getty Images
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    Comet Pan-STARRS, above and to the right, passes over the Stratosphere Casino Hotel along with a waxing crescent moon on March 12, 2013 in Las Vegas, Nevada. 

  • Johnny Horne/The Fayeteville Observer/AP Photo
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    In this Sunday, March 10, 2013, photo taken with a 600-millimeter telephoto lens, comet Pan-STARRS appears between the clouds low in the western sky as seen from Harrells, N.C. 

  • ARMAGH OBSERVATORY/AFP/Getty Images
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    A photo released by Armagh Observatory in Northern Irland on Dec. 12, 2012, shows comet Pan-STARRS on Aug. 9 by British astronomer David Asher (Armagh Observatory) and student James Hadnett (Royal School Armagh)at Siding Spring, Australia. 

  • STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images
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    Comet Pan-STARRS sets over the Very Large Array radio telescope antenna dishes March 12, 2013 near Magdalena, New Mexico. 

  • Sky Noir/flickr
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    Comet Pan-STARRS and the moon.

  • Michael C. Real/flickr
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    Comet Pan-STARRS, crescent moon and Mogote Peaks.

  • Christ_Samuel/flickr
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    Comet Pan-STARRS over Upper Ferntree Gully, VIC, Australia.

  • javi_goagc/flickr
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    Next: 10 Stunning Photos of Starry Night Skies

    Comet Pan-STARRS under darks skies from the Mirador del Pico de Las Nieves, Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain.