Brightening comet looks set to delight astronomers in May

Skymania ^ | 3/16/20 | Paul Sutherland

[LibWhacker]

A comet is currently brightening faster than expected, giving hope that it will become a prominent object visible with the unaided eye in May.

An image of Comet C/2019 ATLAS taken from Walmer, Kent, UK, on March 12th, 2020. Image credit: Paul Sutherland

The celestial visitor is labelled C/2019 Y4 ATLAS, indicating that it was discovered in 2019 by a sky survey called the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS).

This robotic survey, based in Hawaii, searches for small objects to help defend Earth against possible future impacts, and has found several comets as well as asteroids.

Comet C/2019 Y4 was expected to be only around magnitude 15 at the time of writing (March 15th, 2020) but has surprised astronomers by climbing more rapidly to about magnitude 8. This brightening does not appear to be a sudden flare, but rather a steady steep increase.

This steep climb is leading comet experts to speculate that the comet might become easy to see without a telescope of binoculars in the north-western evening sky in May as it approaches the Sun.

Of course, comets are notoriously unpredictable in their behaviour, and this one could fizzle out and not provide us with any great spectacle. However, another interesting fact about this comet is that it has a very similar orbit to a Great Comet that became a bright object in the night sky in the 19th Century.

The track of Comet C/2019 ATLAS from mid March into April. Points are shown for 0h UT at 5-day intervals, in the format year-month-day.

They cannot be the same comet, because the orbital period has been calculated to be nearly 5,520 years, taking it far out into the edge of the Solar System. However, it might very well be related to it, as a fragment of a once much larger comet.

Catalogued as Comet 1844 III, the 19th Century object was discovered on December 17th of that year just four days after its closest approach to the Sun. According to a book called Comets, A Descriptive Catalog, by Gary Kronk, the comet developed a tail 10° long in the first days of January 1845, and had a nucleus around magnitude 2.5. The track of Comet C/2019 ATLAS during April and May. Points are shown for 0h UT at 5-day intervals, in the format year-month-day.

Jonathan Shanklin, Director of the British Astronomical Association’s Comet Section, reports that the current comet, C/2019 Y4, brightened quite rapidly in mid February, and adds “as of March 11 there is no sign of a slowdown in the rate of brightening. It is already visible in large binoculars . . . The uncertainty in brightness at the time of perihelion is large, though the worst case indicator is 2nd magnitude. It will remain well placed for UK observers into May and could become a prominent object.”

You can also read more about the comet on this website.

In mid March, the comet is lying a little to the right of the bowl in the asterism known as the Big Dipper in the USA, and the Plough in the UK. This means it can be seen in dark skies, away from twilight, and is circumpolar from mid-northern latitudes and above.

We have charts here to show its track as it moves across the sky and into the evening twilight in May, when it should appear at its best, in the constellation of Perseus.

[LibWhacker]

Oh, cool... Showed up just in time. Harbinger of Death. Every plague needs one.

[BenLurkin]

Wolf-Biederman?

[mosesdapoet]

Good job Thanks

[Ezekiel]

Oh, cool... Showed up just in time. Harbinger of Death. Every plague needs one.

C/2019 Y4 ATLAS

No problem!

[grimalkin]

I remember seeing comet Hale-Bopp while I was driving on the freeway at sunset. It was so bright you couldn’t miss it. It was pretty cool.

[politicianslie]

I have a Nikon P1000 and a new carbon fiber tripod that I was going to try in Oregon for a few summer night time shots. The camera is too heavy and big for my last tripod.

I will try a few shots of the comet when we get a clear night.

Thanks for posting.

[Professional]

It’s only cool if people might die.

[yarddog]

Hale-Bopp was the only comet I have ever seen. I tried to see Halley’s comet and even bought a telescope but never saw it.

I was visiting my parents around 1997. They lived in the middle of nowhere and Hale-Bopp was visible. I set up a 22 power spotting scope and it was clear tho still pretty small.

My parents were getting ready for bed when I asked them if they wanted to see a comet. They were in their 80s and I wa a bit surprised when they came outside.

The spotter was a good one with ED glass elements. Maybe I will get it out again.

[noiseman]

Let’s see: Pestilence, earthquakes, and now a sign in the heavens. Hmmm.....

[Ciaphas Cain]

Comet Hyakutake in March of '96 was way brighter than Hale-Bopp but it went really fast past Earth.

At closest approach that tail spread across half the night sky and you could literally SEE the comet moving against the background stars from one minute to the next. It was incredible.

[Buttons12]

Signs and portents, people!!

[eartick]

CV/2019 Y4 ATLAS

There, made it fit the 24/7 news cycle

[Alberta's Child]

As I remember it, Hale-Bopp was a massive comet but did not pass close enough to the earth to do itself any justice. Hyakutake was much smaller but passed closer to the earth than almost any other comet in the last several hundred years -- hence the brilliant tail that was readily visible in the sky.

Unfortunately for those of us in the northern hemisphere, we missed perhaps the most spectacular comet in our lifetimes -- Comet McNaught in 2007.

[piasa]

Don’t forget locusts. They’re on the move.

But we are still short of frogs, a host over the sun, a Chevy on the levy, and whiskey and rye.

[fieldmarshaldj]

*ping*

[SunkenCiv]

Comets always look like some tagger spraypainted the sky. :^)

[PrairieLady2]

That was the most beautiful I’ve ever seen...and omg gorgeous through good binoculars. I took the my kids and a neighborhood kid to the lake where it was good and dark, to see it with the glasses although it showed up under city lights as well. Then the following year was halebop and so it was nice seeing a comet in the sky again. I love comets.

[grimalkin]

Wow!

[Tallguy]

LOL! Thinking the same thing!

[Daffynition]

Now you have *me* making connections!

COVID 19 or Psalm 91?

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High

will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress,

my God, in whom I trust.”

For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler

and from the deadly pestilence.

He will cover you with his pinions,

and under his wings you will find refuge;

his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.

You will not fear the terror of the night,

nor the arrow that flies by day,

nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness,

nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.

A thousand may fall at your side,

ten thousand at your right hand,

but it will not come near you.

You will only look with your eyes

and see the recompense of the wicked.

Because you have made the LORD your dwelling place—

the Most High, who is my refuge—

no evil shall be allowed to befall you,

no plague come near your tent.

For he will command his angels concerning you

to guard you in all your ways.

On their hands they will bear you up,

lest you strike your foot against a stone.

You will tread on the lion and the adder;

the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.

“Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him;

I will protect him, because he knows my name.

When he calls to me, I will answer him;

I will be with him in trouble;

I will rescue him and honor him.

With long life I will satisfy him

and show him my salvation.”