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Comet of the century expected to make appearance in skies over Spain, but will it be visible with the naked eye?
Astronomy

Comet of the century expected to make appearance in skies over Spain, but will it be visible with the naked eye?

This event marks a new date in the diary for stargazers as the comet was only recently discovered by Purple Mountain Observatory

SUR

Malaga

Friday, 13 September 2024, 15:16

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Astronomy enthusiasts have a new date marked on their calendars. After enjoying a great summer thanks to the different meteor showers that have been visible from Malaga province, the comet of the century is expected to cross Spanish skies in the coming weeks.

It has been named as C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS), a comet in the Oort Cloud (a cloud of icy planetesimals surrounding the Sun that maintain and replenish comets that enter our inner solar system). The comet was discovered by the Purple Mountain Observatory (Nanjing, China) on 9 January 2023 and independently located by ATLAS South Africa on 22 February 2023, as José Luis Escudero explains in his SUR blog 'Tormentas y Rayos' (storms and lightning).

The comet is expected to reach its perihelion (the closest point to the Sun during its orbit) on 27 September, when it can be observed in the sky. It will then be "at a distance of 58 million kilometres. It is estimated that at that time it could reach a magnitude of 0.5, making it easily visible in the evening sky, in the constellation of Leo."

However, the most likely date to see it will be 12 October, when it will come closest to the Earth and be visible to the naked eye a few hours before sunrise in the constellation of Virgo (the second largest constellation in the sky after Hydra - its brightest star is Spica). The comet's tail reached 450,000 kilometres in length just last month, hence its passage by Earth being a momentous occasion for many.

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