Newly Discovered Comet Is Making a Close Approach Toward the Sun; It Becomes as Bright as a Star in 2024, Astronomers Say

sciencetimes.com ^ | Mar 06, 2023 | Margaret Davis

[BenLurkin]

According to the Minor Planet Center, the comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) was discovered on February 22 by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Late Alert System (ATLAS) telescope project in South Africa.

When astronomers at China's Purple Mountain Observatory found the comet independently on January 9, both observatories are mentioned in the comet's complete name. Skywatchers throughout the world have subsequently seen it in fresh and old photos, with the first discovery being on December 12, 2022, in photographs obtained by a wide-field camera on a telescope at Palomar Observatory in California.

Meanwhile, EarthSky reports that C/2023 A3 is currently between Saturn and Jupiter, traveling at speeds of 180,610 mph (290,664 km/h) or 80.74 kilometers per second relative to Earth, and is likely to make its closest approach to Earth on October 13, 2024.

For now, the comet was still 7.3 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun and glowing at a dull magnitude of 18 when it was discovered. According to preliminary trajectory research, comet "A3" completes an orbit around the Sun every 80,660 years.

Although certain particular facts and dates may change, it looks that the closest approach to Earth will take place on October 13, 2024, at 05:38 UTC.

[KarlInOhio]

They estimate that it would have a brightness of magnitude 0.7 and might peak to magnitude -5 similar to Venus at its brightest. The lower the number, the greater its brightness on the stellar magnitude scale.

So a range from one of the brighter stars to as bright as Venus. That magnitude range of 5.7 is almost a 200 times range of amount of light.

[telescope115]

That would be amazing. It will probably be cloudy here…

[oldasrocks]

Don’t worry, When it hits the sun and explodes you will see it through the clouds.

[SunkenCiv]

---

The Cycle of Cosmic Catastrophes: Flood, Fire, and Famine in the History of Civilization by Richard Firestone, Allen West, and Simon Warwick-Smith

---

[SunkenCiv]

---

join or quit view topics view or post blog bookmark post new topic subscribe

---

[telescope115]

LOL, I hadn’t thought of that! What a light show that will be!