«Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE): everything you need to know about the phenomenon of the century»
18 october 2024 в 05:13
Star watchers received a real gift!
Comet Jinshan-ATLAS, also known as C/2023 A3, arrived in the Northern Hemisphere after appearing in the Southern Hemisphere over the weekend. Currently, it shines with a brightness of +0.5 — quite visible to the human eye.
Here’s everything you need to know about this comet, which appears only once every 80,000 years.
Comet Jinshan-ATLAS is a long-period comet first discovered by astronomers at the Jinshan Observatory in China. This comet is notable for its impressive return to the inner solar system, occurring only once every 80,000 years, earning it the nickname «comet of the century». It is also the brightest of its kind since the appearance of the NEOWISE comet, which was visible to the naked eye even in major cities in 2020.
NASA describes comets as «cosmic snowballs made of frozen gases, rock, and dust that orbit the Sun». When a comet’s orbit brings this «dirty snowball» closer to the Sun, it heats up and releases gases and dust, creating the visibility of a huge glowing head. The comet’s head can appear as large or even larger than many planets in the sky. The comet’s tail, made up of gases and dust, can extend for millions of miles from the Sun; in the case of Comet Jinshan-ATLAS, its tail is estimated to be about 18 million miles long.
If you want to see this comet once in a lifetime, time is running out.
Comet Jinshan-ATLAS first appeared on Saturday, October 12, and will be visible until the end of the month, according to NASA. However, with each passing day, the comet will appear dimmer and more difficult to see with the naked eye as it rises higher in the sky each night, moving away from the Sun and out of the solar system.
Today, October 17, may be particularly challenging for comet watchers due to the supermoon, which will obscure part of the comet’s tail. Nevertheless, it’s worth looking after sunset, said Bill Cooke of NASA. «Most astronomers hate the full moon because its bright light interferes with observing other objects. So we find it a little hard to get excited about it, even if it’s the biggest supermoon of 2024», - he noted in an online statement.
To see the comet from the Northern Hemisphere, look west about 45 minutes after sunset; it will be slightly lower and to the right of Arcturus, the bright red giant star in the constellation of Boötes
Comet Jinshan-ATLAS, also known as C/2023 A3, arrived in the Northern Hemisphere after appearing in the Southern Hemisphere over the weekend. Currently, it shines with a brightness of +0.5 — quite visible to the human eye.
Here’s everything you need to know about this comet, which appears only once every 80,000 years.
Comet Jinshan-ATLAS is a long-period comet first discovered by astronomers at the Jinshan Observatory in China. This comet is notable for its impressive return to the inner solar system, occurring only once every 80,000 years, earning it the nickname «comet of the century». It is also the brightest of its kind since the appearance of the NEOWISE comet, which was visible to the naked eye even in major cities in 2020.
NASA describes comets as «cosmic snowballs made of frozen gases, rock, and dust that orbit the Sun». When a comet’s orbit brings this «dirty snowball» closer to the Sun, it heats up and releases gases and dust, creating the visibility of a huge glowing head. The comet’s head can appear as large or even larger than many planets in the sky. The comet’s tail, made up of gases and dust, can extend for millions of miles from the Sun; in the case of Comet Jinshan-ATLAS, its tail is estimated to be about 18 million miles long.
If you want to see this comet once in a lifetime, time is running out.
Comet Jinshan-ATLAS first appeared on Saturday, October 12, and will be visible until the end of the month, according to NASA. However, with each passing day, the comet will appear dimmer and more difficult to see with the naked eye as it rises higher in the sky each night, moving away from the Sun and out of the solar system.
Today, October 17, may be particularly challenging for comet watchers due to the supermoon, which will obscure part of the comet’s tail. Nevertheless, it’s worth looking after sunset, said Bill Cooke of NASA. «Most astronomers hate the full moon because its bright light interferes with observing other objects. So we find it a little hard to get excited about it, even if it’s the biggest supermoon of 2024», - he noted in an online statement.
To see the comet from the Northern Hemisphere, look west about 45 minutes after sunset; it will be slightly lower and to the right of Arcturus, the bright red giant star in the constellation of Boötes
© Zhinobaeva Margarita
