Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS visible from the Northern Hemisphere for a few evenings

>> Comet “Neowise” and its brilliant plume visible to the naked eye

>> A comet visits the sky for the first time in 50,000 years

>> Comet Nishimura, just discovered, visible in the sky

The small body of rock and ice was detected in January 2023 by China’s Purple Mountain Observatory (Tsuchinshan), giving it the first half of its name. He owes the second to the confirmation of his existence by a telescope from the South African ATLAS program.

Visible to the naked eye in the Southern Hemisphere in September, C/2023 A3, its rigorous nomenclature, was seen again Friday evening October 11 in North America, reports Eric Lagadec, astrophysicist at the Côte d’Azur Observatory (southern France).

In the meantime, “it could not be observed when it was between the Earth and the Sun“, near which it risked disappearing, particularly affected by the solar storm which reached the Earth on Thursday October 10, causing the Northern Lights.

When comets approach our star, the ice contained in their core sublimates and releases a long trail of dust, reflecting sunlight. It is then said that the comet degases, with the formation of a characteristic hair, the coma, sometimes at the risk of disintegrating.

Visible from Saturday throughout the Northern Hemisphere, Tsuchinshan-ATLAS will be every evening “a little higher” in the sky, observable by looking to the West “for around ten days”, estimates Mr. Lagadec.

More “each day it will decrease a little in brightness” as it moves away from the Sun, warns the astrophysicist.

Barring obstacles on its route modifying the trajectory, Tsuchinshan-ATLAS follows an orbit which should not bring it closer to the Earth for 80,000 years, specifies this comet specialist.

Based on the comet’s orbit and certain models, it is estimated that it could have been up to 400,000 times the Earth-Sun distance before reaching us.

A journey counting in millions of years for this comet which probably saw the light of day in the Oort cloud, a hypothetical and gigantic assembly of tiny planets and celestial bodies, at the edge of the solar system.

AFP/VNA/CVN