Remember these dates, it’s your last chance to observe the “comet of the century” in our hemisphere!
Tsuchinshan-Atlas has not said its last word. The one nicknamed the “comet of the century” and which appeared briefly in the sky of our hemisphere last month before showing off generously in the southern hemisphere last week, is back for a unique celestial spectacle in France from this weekend. Prepare to open your eyes wide!
This celestial body made of rocks and ice comes from the most distant regions of the Solar System, the Oort cloud, and is about to reach its closest point to Earth, 71 million kilometers away. Astronomy enthusiasts or simply curious people, remember these dates carefully and free up your evenings: from this Friday October 11, 2024, and each evening that follows until Monday October 21, 2024, the comet Tuschinshan-Atlas will be visible in France just after the sunset. To spot it, nothing is much simpler than looking above the western horizon, with the naked eye or with simple binoculars. Its appearance will be at level with the horizon, just above the sunset and slightly to its left.
Be careful, however, of the vagaries of the weather. The conditions for its observation will be optimal under a clear sky due west and far from light pollution. It is therefore around 7:15 p.m., just after the Sun has eclipsed below the horizon, that the show will begin in mainland France. If on the first evening, this Friday, it will appear very bright, with a magnitude of around 0, but will disappear very quickly below the horizon, as the evenings pass, it will be higher and higher and visible for a long time in the sky. The only downside is that its brightness will lose intensity…
Remember these two dates during the observation period: Tuesday October 15, its tail will be particularly bright and will appear in the form of a clear line, due to the dust from its orbital plane that the Earth will have crossed the day before. Thursday, October 17, the full Moon could, however, mask its brightness, and therefore its observation.
This comet, its real scientific name C/2023 A3, discovered in January 2023 by the Purple Mountain Observatory in China, has become the brightest comet since the show that Neowise offered us in 2020. So last chance for observe this small celestial body with long hair, which would have already passed near the Earth 80,000 years ago… To best prepare for your observation, the Star Walk 2 or Sky Tonight applications downloadable to your smartphone will allow you to more easily locate the comet in the sky.