Comet ISON (C/2012) is approaching for a close encounter with the Sun in late November and December, 2013. It's been hyped up on social media and other news outlets, predicted to be as "bright as the Moon".

Will it live up to the hype? The problem with those sort of predictions so far out, is that that may or may not be true. As amateur astronomers, we love it when mainstream media talks about astronomical events, but it's much worse if the event itself doesn't live up to the hype - people won't be as interested next time.

The bad news for us in the Southern Hemisphere, is that even if ISON does become a very bright comet, we won't get the best of it. This time it's the Northern Hemisphere's turn to get a bright comet, after we were rewarded with the stunning Comet Lovejoy at the end of 2011.

John Bortle from Sky&Telescope has a nice article which discusses Comet ISON and what to expect later this year. Read it here.