Tag: Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS

Viewing Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS when it enters the evening sky

9:20 am

Link here. For those living in the northern hemisphere, Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS will be bright and visible to the naked eye just after sunset beginning tomorrow.

“As soon as October 11th, ambitious comet spotters may pick up the comet during twilight just above the western horizon,” says Sky & Telescope Contributing Editor Bob King. “Binoculars will help you see the comet throughout its appearance.”

About 40 minutes after sunset on Friday, find a spot with a good view down to the western horizon. The first thing that will catch your eye will be the bright planet Venus, the Evening Star — that’s your starting point. Hold your fist out at arm’s length; the comet is about 2½ fists to Venus’s right. The comet will still look tiny in Friday’s twilight — like a hazy star with a small tail — and will set while twilight is still in progress.

Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS (pronounced choo-cheen-SHAHN) will remain visible for the next ten days, with the best viewing likely from October 13th to October 16th.

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Viewing Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS

9:02 am

While the newly discovered Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS in the past week reached naked eye visibility in the dawn sky, in the next few weeks it will shift into the evening sky on October 11, 2024 while brightening to peak levels.

Although Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS will be visible in both hemispheres, the northern one is favored because the comet tracks north. Also, sunsets are getting earlier and twilights shorter, while the opposite is happening in southern latitudes.

Observers should be aware that the Moon will interfere for several nights, from about Oct. 15-20 (full Moon is on Oct. 17th), around the same time the comet climbs out of twilight.

As it begins to fade, the comet will be visible at an increasing height above the horizon each night through the end of October. At its brightest it is expected to be one of the brightest objects in the sky.

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Newly discovered comet could be brightest object in sky in October ’24

9:02 am

Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, discovered simultanuously by telescopes in China and South Africa, has the possibility of becoming brightest object in sky when it makes its closest approach to the Earth in October 2024.

As viewed from Earth, the comet may be as luminous as the brightest stars in the sky during its upcoming flyby, according to EarthSky. This is brighter than the green comet C/2022 E3 that just passed by Earth in January. That comet had a brightness of around magnitude +4.6, just visible to the naked eye. The new comet may have a brightness of magnitude 0.7, potentially peaking at magnitude -5, similar to Venus at its brightest.

The comet is presently between Jupiter and Saturn. Its 80,000 year long orbit will make its next close approach to the Sun on September 28, 2024.

Whether this will become a naked eye object of beauty of course remains totally uncertain. Its orbit, which appears stable but with rare swings past the Sun, suggests it will have lots of ice to sublimate into a bright tail. This also suggests the comet will survive this close approach without breaking up, since it has likely done this frequently in the past.

At the same time, the brightness of comets is unpredictable. We won’t really know how bright it will become until it is on it approach to the Sun, in the early fall of 2024.

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