Taiwan star gazers were advised Monday that the period between Jan. 10 and late February will be the best time to observe Comet Lulin -- the first comet concertedly discovered by astronomers across the Taiwan Strait in 2007.

Astronomers at the Taipei Astronomical Museum said that the tail of Lulin will become most vivid during that time as it moves closest to the Earth.According to the museum, it took 28.5 million years for Comet Lulin to revolve round the Sun on its own axis.

In other words, museum astronomers said, the last time Comet Lulin came to the inner part of the solar system, human beings had just evolved from monkeys, the ice caps of the North and South Poles had just formed, the globe's highest mountain range, the Himalayas, had just appeared upon a ground breaking orogenic movement, and Taiwan was still deep in the sea.

Comet Lulin was initially described as an asteroidal object when found by Ye Quanzhi at the Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China.Three images were obtained by Lin Chi-sheng of the Graduate Institute of Astronomy, National Central University at Zhongli in Taiwan on July 11, 2007.

Lin had acquired the images using the 41-cm camera at the university's Lulin Observatory in Nantou, central Taiwan.The discovery of Comet Lulin (C/2227 N3) was part of the major achievements made in the Lulin Sky Survey (LUSS) project that was planned to explore the various populations of small bodies in the solar system, especially on studying the objects that might present a hazard to the Earth.

The discovery results were referred to Minor Planet Center, the official body in the globe that deals with astrometric observations and orbits of minor planets (asteroids) and comets.According to the museum, the comet steadily brightened during the last months of 2008. It was near magnitude 11.0 at the beginning of July, 10.5 at the beginning of August, 10.0 at the beginning of September and 9.5 at the beginning of October.

The comet is presently moving between the constellations Scorpio and Libra, and is expected to run towards Leo at an accelerating pace in late February, according to the museum.Comet Lulin will pass 0.41 AU (Astronomical Unit) from earth and reach the closest distance to Earth on Feb. 24 -- about 14.5 times the distance between Earth and the Moon. One AU is the distance between Earth and the Sun.

The comet's maximum magnitude in late February is expected to reach magnitude 6 and will be seen with the naked eye.Astronomers advised star gazers to make use of the upcoming long Chinese Lunar New Year holiday to appreciate the comet. It can be seen low in the sky in the east-southeast direction before dawn.