The comet is 70 million kilometers from Earth.Keystone
Comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas is currently in its closest trajectory to Earth. This Friday promises to be the best day to observe it with the naked eye.
11.10.2024, 09:0711.10.2024, 09:21
A major astronomical event this fall, comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas is expected to reach its closest point to Earth in the coming days.
MeteoSwiss expects the clouds to clear late Friday, a clearing that will provide a good chance of seeing the comet, meteorologist Stefan Scherrer told Keystone-ATS on Thursday.
The best way to observe it is to stand in a dimly lit place. A promontory is also recommended. On the other hand, cities should be avoided.
In addition to Friday, next Tuesday should also be favorable, as well as Sunday if you are in the Lake Geneva region or Valais.
Bodies of ice and dust
Tsuchinshan-Atlas, or C/2023 A3, is in its closest trajectory to Earth. In the coming days it will be located 70 million kilometers from the blue planet, a little less than half the distance separating the Earth from the Sun:
“If it is bright enough, and if the weather permits, in the coming days it will be a spectacle that we could see with the naked eye,” specifies the researcher. Now, comets that can be seen with the naked eye like that, there are one or two per century. The last one was the Hale-Bopp comet, in 1997.
Nicolas André (CNRS-Irap), professor of planetary science at Isae-SUPAERO in Toulouse, quoted by 20 Minutes France
The comet was discovered in February 2023 by Atlas (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System), an automatic observatory located in South Africa that detects small celestial bodies that could cross Earth’s orbit.
It is a body made up of ice and dust. Comets have very eccentric orbits and most of the time remain very far from the Earth and the Sun.
When one of them comes closer, it undergoes the action of the sun and is surrounded by a halo called hair. It is also extended by a tail of dust and ionized gas which gives it a very characteristic shape. (ats)
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