En this early autumn, a fascinating cosmic visitor is preparing to light up the sky offering a potentially unforgettable spectacle. Discovered in January 2023 by the Purple Mountain Observatory in China, then confirmed the following month by the South African telescope of the ATLAS program, comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS arouses so much expectation that some are already promising it the title of comet of the century!
Indeed, according to an estimate from the Institute of Celestial Mechanics and Ephemeris Calculation at the Paris Observatory, comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS could reach a maximum magnitude of 2.4 (i.e. a brightness roughly equivalent to that of the Polar Star) at its closest crossing point to Earth (i.e. 71 million kilometers) on October 12.
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However, the scattering of light by the ice and dust particles surrounding the nucleus of the comet could make it even brighter and allow it to reach an apparent magnitude of – 2, knowing that that of the full moon revolves around – 12, it would then be a rather exceptional spectacle.
Unpredictable bodies
For this, however, it will be necessary that this comet coming from the Oort cloud, a spherical zone at the confines of the solar system, has not been too weakened by its passage at perihelion – the point of its orbit closest to the Sun (58 million d […] Read more
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