BOSTON – It isn’t often that we get the chance to see a comet with the naked eye.
Comet C/2023 A3 making closest pass to Earth Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS has an 80,000 year orbit and, it just so happens, that it is now approaching its closest pass to Earth.
What time is the comet visible tonight?
Starting on Friday night and lasting for several days, the comet will be visible in the western sky just after sunset.
It will lose some brightness each night though, slowly fading and getting harder and harder to see with the naked eye.
Boston: Seeing a comet with the naked eye is not something we get to do very often. However, it appears that we will be able to add a comet to the list of astronomical treats in a year that has already been jam-packed with them.
Coming close to Earth is Comet C/2023 A3.
It just so happens that comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, which has an orbit of 80,000 years, is now getting close to its closest pass to Earth. The comet approached our sun closest on Wednesday and again on Saturday, October 12 at 11:39 a.m. M. Its closest pass from Earth will be only 43,911,824 miles away. In effect, the comet’s tail will be pointing directly at Earth at that moment. But in the days that follow, the tail will turn to the east, resulting in striking night-to-night variations in viewing.
The comet’s length and size are enormous. At this time, the diameter of its head is an astounding two miles. The tail is thought to be up to 18 million miles long and is mostly made up of tiny bits of dust and ice.
For a brief moment last week, C/2023 A3 was visible in the early morning sky. Since it was low to the horizon and extremely faint, most people were ultimately unable to see it.
When can I see the comet tonight?
This time, we’ll have a far better chance. The comet will be observable in the western sky shortly after sunset beginning on Friday night and continuing for a few days.
On Friday, it was probably a little difficult to see because it was so low in the sky (about 4 degrees).
Conditions should improve over the next few nights.
The best time to see will be from October 12 to 26. In our solar system, the comet will surpass the moon as the largest visible object.
Forty-five minutes after sunset on Saturday, the comet was roughly 6 degrees above the west-southwest horizon. Holding your fist out at arm’s length will reveal that the comet is approximately half a “fist” above the horizon. It will set in roughly forty-five minutes.
Next week, the comet will be rising in the sky by roughly 3 degrees each night and setting 16 minutes later.
It will rise to approximately 30 degrees (3 fists) above the horizon by Saturday, October 19, and set almost three and a half hours later. However, it will gradually fade and become more difficult to see with the unaided eye as it loses some of its brightness every night.
Prediction for comet observation.
For us to see anything on any given night, the weather must cooperate, of course. We anticipate showers and some clouds on Sunday evening. Those ought to clear on Monday, allowing for once more excellent viewing.
