Posted on 09/23/2024 9:24:18 AM PDT by jerod
Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) has the potential to put on a stellar show
There's a new comet in the sky that has gained a lot of attention lately over its potential to become visible to the naked eye.
Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) was discovered by observatories in China and South Africa in early 2023. Believed to have originated from the Oort Cloud — a giant spherical shell that surrounds our solar system and contains billions of icy objects — this little comet has been slowly making its way into our solar system.
At the moment, Comet C/2023 A3 is roughly 175 million kilometres from Earth. While that certainly sounds like a great distance, relatively speaking, it's right in our neighbourhood. The comet will be closest to Earth on Oct. 12 at roughly 71 million kilometres.
There have been some reports that this could be the "comet of the century," or the "comet of the decade," but that's a bit of an oversell. That's because comets are notoriously difficult to predict: astronomers can't predict when we will get a new comet or how bright one may get.
The other issue is whether or not it can survive reaching perihelion — or the point in its orbit when it will be closest to the sun, which occurs on Sept. 27. At that time, it will be roughly 58.5 million kilometres from the sun.
In a recent paper entitled "The inevitable endgame of Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS (C/2023 A3)" published on the pre-print service arxiv.org, astronomer Zdenek Sekanina suggested that "based on its past and current performance, the comet is expected to disintegrate before reaching perihelion."
However, the cliché "only time will tell" is very applicable here. We have to wait to see if it does indeed hold together after its close solar pass.
"I'm rooting for it for sure, and I think it will survive, but we'll have to wait and see," said Paul Wiegert, a professor at Western University's department of physics and astronomy in London, Ont.
"These things are very unpredictable, and as excited as we get about these things, we sort of have to temper that with the realization that, you know, it doesn't always pan out."
How to see it
The good news is that as more time passes, it does appear to be getting brighter.
Right now in Canada, it can be found low in the horizon in the east just before sunrise.
For those who are looking to see it, its brightness is around 4 on the astronomical brightness scale (the brighter something is on this scale, the lower the number), meaning that you'd need to use a pair of binoculars to find it.
However, because this comet is so close to the sun, it's important to ensure you don't accidentally point your binoculars at the sun, as it could cause blindness.
And be warned: Don't expect to see what you see in photographs. These are usually taken with telephoto lenses, and sometimes many images are combined, or stacked, to get a better final image.
"I would just caution everybody that that is not what you'll be able to see at the moment, because it is still too dim to make out, especially from bright skies like Toronto," said Elaina Hyde, associate professor and director of the Allan I. Carswell Observatory at York University's department of physics and astronomy.
Instead, you're more likely to see it as a faint fuzz in the sky or in binoculars. However, what remains to be seen is how bright and long the tail may become.
Some astronomers are predicting that it could get to a peak brightness of -1 or -2 on the scale, meaning it could be visible during the day.
y the time C/2023 A3 passes closest to Earth on Oct. 12, skywatchers can find it in the evening sky, shortly after sunset.
If you want to know exactly when for your particular location, you can use astronomy apps like Sky Safari, Star Walk, Stellarium or SkyView. Online, you can also check out The Sky Live, which allows you to put in your location and provides a live sky map for your location.
And while a comet gracing our sky has the potential to put on a beautiful show, there's more to it than that. It's believed that comets may have been the seeds that brought water to Earth billions of years ago.
"Anything that helps us understand the mystery of the icy outer solar system is always a good thing, and comets in particular have captured imaginations of humans probably forever," Hyde said.
"It's not just a dirty snowball, as some scientists like to say. Actually, some comets can have traces of basically the formation of our own solar system. [They] tell us how things were formed. Tell us why, or help us understand why the solar system looks like it does. And the bigger questions are always how did our planet end up with life? How did our planet end up with water?"
Ted Koppel: Uh-huh.. alright. So, this whole killing yourself thing has really turned out to be a home run for you. Tell me, are there any regrets?
Marshall Applewhite: Yeahhh.. the castration thing.. I was way off on that one, Ted! It turns out it had nothing to do with anything. In fact, when we got here, everyone just looked at me like, “Applewhite, you nutball!”
LOL! 🤣😂
I was gonna say...
Jesus Christ does not Return in a spaceship
Read Genesis Chapter 1
Anyone here remember seeing Kohoutek? Me neither. The best thing about it was the song by Journey - it was a staple for those laser light shows they used to have at planetariums.
so I take it that most media outlets are using straight metrics these days, we will be converting soon from standard??!
I recall seeing it 1 winter nite 1995-1996.
SF replies:
I was gonna say...
Jesus Christ does not Return in a spaceship
***
EZ asks:
Uh oh, now what are the folks at Marshall Space Flight Center going to do about that huge, custom building??
Visiting Marshall
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center is situated on the U.S. Army’s Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. Visitors are welcomed at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, Marshall’s official Visitor Center. U.S. Space & Rocket Center visitors can learn more about Marshall’s legacy and ongoing work.
https://www.nasa.gov/marshall/visit-marshall-space-flight-center/
🤷♀️
Halley was disappointing.
Hyakutake and Hale-Bopp were incredible.
There were a few other good ones recently that I can’t recall.
I have my fingers crossed for this one…
First big rocks tossed at us now ice balls Omen alert?.
I didn’t see Kahoutek, but I did see Hale-Bopp.
It looked very cool.
“how did our planet end up with life?
Read Genesis Chapter 1”
So true, certainly not from a made up fairytale of two lost particles finding each in the vastness of space. I’m still waiting for big bang cultists to explain where the particles came from. And for that matter where did all the space come from.
IMO, the Big Bang was when Satan fell and the whole universe of which he was he was in charge turned dark.
IMO all that happened between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2 (AKA the “Gap” theory which reconciles the HUGE difference between the age of man (about 6000 years) and the age of the earth (countless eons)).
Ummmm, in Rev 21 The Bible says
2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.Check back with us when this Borg Cube of a spaceship shows up.
...
10 And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,
...
15 And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.16 And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.
17 And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.
BTW, The Bible doesn't say it's a cube. It says it's 1,500 miles wide, 1,500 miles long, and 1,500 miles tall, with a surrounding wall 216 feet tall.
That could just as easily be a pyramid, couldn't it?
My dad bought it for my Mom, but she hated driving so he killed two birds with one stone, so to speak.
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