(ORDO NEWS) — Pay attention to the recently discovered comet with the long name C / 2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS): as it approaches the Sun and our planet, it can shine in the Earth‘s night sky brighter than many stars. .
The comet’s closest approach to the Sun, or perihelion, will not occur until September 28, 2024, and a few weeks later, on October 13, it will reach its closest point to Earth, so you have plenty of time. time to get my blanket and telescopes in order.
Although estimates are very preliminary, astronomers predict a brightness of 0.7 magnitude at the comet’s perihelion.
Keeping in mind that the numbers lower on the magnitude scale represent brighter objects: Betelgeuse in the constellation of Orion has about 0.42, and Antares – the brightest star in the constellation of Scorpio – is a little dimmer, just over 1.
At its closest point to Earth, the comet’s magnitude can reach an even more dazzling -0.2, making it one of the brightest objects in the night sky.
Add to this the forward scattering effects, when the comet’s dust and ice reflect the light from the Sun, and we could even reach magnitude -5.
If its rapprochement with the star is not broken. him to shreds before he returns back to the outer solar system, that is.
It’s also worth remembering that a comet’s brightness is more diffuse than a star’s, since we’re talking about a moving object with a (potentially) tail, rather than a single light source.
The best times to view C/2023 A3 should be in the days before or after October 13th. However, it will appear at dawn near the constellations Hydra and Crater. keep in mind that getting a good view in the bright light of sunrise can be tricky.
Astronomers first spotted C/2023 A3 on January 9, 2023 from the Purple Mountain Observatory in China. It was then considered lost, but on February 22, 2023, the team rediscovered it on the Last Asteroid Impact Alert System (ATLAS) telescope in South Africa.
As a result, he derives both of the institute’s names from his own name (“tsutingshan” is Chinese for “purple mountain”).
C is used for comets in an open path (probably leaving the orbit of the Sun), 2023 is the year of discovery, and A3 indicates that this was the third discovery in the first half of January (B is the second half of January, C is the date of discovery). first half of February and so on).
In addition to its noticeable brightness, C/2023 A3 is moving particularly fast: around 180,610 miles or 290,664 kilometers per hour, moving around the long circle of the solar system is estimated to take approximately 80,660 years. Right now it is somewhere between the orbits of Saturn and Jupiter.
Stargazers should start getting good observations of the comet in June 2024, although there is a lot of (reasonable) guesswork involved: these celestial objects can be unpredictable in how their paths develop, and scientists know little about this comet’s properties.
Although the chances are good that we will see the bright aurora C/2023 A3 in the sky next year, in the way of comparable cometary data on which to base calculations. So astronomers can’t even tell for sure if the poor old ball of rock and ice will stay intact long enough to meet the Sun.
Despite the uncertainty, this is an exciting prospect for astronomers. , and we will likely hear more about C/2023 A3 in the coming months.
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