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Friday, October 4, 2024

Wow! One other one! Huge new sungrazer comet may get SUPER-bright


Sungrazer comet: White comet with long tail in a starry sky.
There’s a model new comet within the sky! No, not Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS. And just like the extremely shiny Comet Ikeya–Seki (above) in 1965, the brand new one is what’s referred to as a sungrazer comet. How shiny will it get? Picture through NASA/ Wikimedia Commons.

Huge new sungrazer comet

Heads up, comet-watchers! The ATLAS survey in Hawaii has found one other new comet that would develop into shiny in Earth’s skies. The invention date is September 27, 2024. The comet is so new it’s nonetheless ready for its identify. However for now it has the designation of A11bP7I. Predictions for the comet have it reaching as shiny as magnitude -5 to -7 when it comes closest to the solar, at perihelion, on October 28. These ranges would make the comet even brighter than the brightest planet, Venus. It would even be seen within the daytime sky. Nevertheless, remember the fact that comets are notoriously unpredictable.

The Southern Hemisphere can have one of the best view earlier than perihelion. After its shut encounter with the solar (if it survives!) it may placed on a unbelievable present for the Northern Hemisphere within the morning skies. It might undoubtedly be one thing to get up early for.

Within the meantime, don’t overlook the opposite comet in Earth’s skies proper now. C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS can be seen within the morning sky within the east by means of October 2. Afterwards, it’ll reappear on the opposite aspect of the solar within the night sky after about October 12.

A Kreutz sungrazer

The brand new sungrazing comet is a part of the Kreutz sungrazers. These are comets that come perilously near the solar, the place they’ll disintegrate or, if we’re fortunate, develop into fantastically shiny. Most of the comets by means of historical past which were given the identify “Nice” (for instance the Nice Comet of 1882, the Nice Comet of 1106 and the Nice Comet of 371 BC) had been all Kreutz sungrazers. Extra just lately, Comet Ikeya–Seki in 1965 was a Kreutz sungrazer that grew to become as shiny as magnitude -11. That’s as shiny as a first quarter moon.

Scientists imagine Kreutz sungrazers all come from a giant comet that broke up a pair millennia in the past. Most Kreutz sungrazers are small fragments, however this one could also be bigger than most.

Will it develop into as shiny as Ikeya-Seki? Unlikely. The brand new comet is about 1 astronomical unit (AU) from the solar now. And it’s about 4 to five magnitudes dimmer than Ikeya-Seki was at that distance. The comet is at the moment round magnitude 15.

However expectations for this comet are nonetheless excessive. Test again for updates, and maintain an eye fixed out in late October and early November for this comet! Should you get nice photos, submit them to us! We’d like to see them.

Backside line: A giant new sungrazing comet may get actually shiny – and even be seen in daylight – in late October and early November.

By way of Spaceweather

By way of Starwalk



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