Comets Blog
The stage is set for C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS), which will arrive at the perihelion on September 27. In August, the comet continued to brighten slowly, but otherwise, it looked healthy. The STEREO-A spacecraft took the last observations on August 21, with the comet now too close to the Sun to be observed.
Assuming the comet continues to brighten and not disintegrate, it should become observable again during the second half of September, at least for those clear, unobstructed eastern morning horizons. The comet will be competing with a rapidly brightening dawn sky. It should be within range of imagers, but will it be bright enough for visual observations?
The real show will be in October, when the comet may become a short-lived daylight comet from October 8 to 10 and then a nice evening object starting around October 13.
Two other comets are expected to be brighter than 12th magnitude in September. 13P/Olbers is a northern hemisphere object fading from 8th to 9th magnitude in the evening sky. 12P/Pons-Brooks is a southern hemisphere object fading from 10-11th magnitude, also in the evening sky.
Last month, the ALPO Comets Section received 103 images and 167 magnitude estimates of 22 comets: C/2023 V4 (Camarasa-Duszanowicz), C/2023 C2 (ATLAS), C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS), C/2022 N2 (PANSTARRS), C/2021 S3 (PANSTARRS), C/2021 G2 (ATLAS), C/2020 V2 (ZTF), C/2020 K1 (PANSTARRS), P/2010 WK (LINEAR), 328P/LONEOS-Tucker, 305P/Skiff, 302P/Lemmon-PANSTARRS, 146P/Shoemaker-Levy, 136P/Mueller, 133P/Elst-Pizarro, 130P/McNaught-Hughes, 125P/Spacewatch, 89P/Russell, 54P/de Vico-Swift-NEAT, 37P/Forbes, 13P/Olbers, and 12P/Pons-Brooks.
A big thanks to our recent contributors: Dan Bartlett, José J. Chambó, Michel Deconinck, Jose Guilherme de Souza Aguiar, Juan Jose Gonzalez Suarez, Christian Harder, Eliot Herman, Michael Jäger, John Maikner, Gianluca Masi, Michael Mattiazzo, Martin Mobberley, Mike Olason, Andrew Pearce, Chris Schur, and Christopher Wyatt.
The monthly ALPO Comet News PDF can be found here. A shorter version of this report is posted on a dedicated Cloudy Nights forum. All are encouraged to join the discussion over at Cloudy Nights.
Comets News Headlines
Meteors Shed Light on Comet Composition
8/22/2024
In
a study recently published in Icarus, researchers using visual and video
observations of 47 young meteor showers have found differences in the
sizes of meteoroids produced by short-period and long-period comets. The
difference in meteoroid sizes may be a relic of the conditions in the
early solar system when these objects formed. Jupiter-family comets
usually crumble into smaller, denser meteoroids, whereas long-period (Oort
Cloud) comets often crumble into sizes indicative of gentle accretion
conditions.
Read More
Comet's impact triggered downfall of ancient Hopewell?
2/1/2022
The rapid decline of the Hopewell culture about 1,500 years ago might be explained by falling debris from a near-Earth comet that created a devastating explosion over North America, laying waste to forests and Native American villages alike. Researchers found evidence of a cosmic airburst at 11 Hopewell archaeological sites in three states stretching across the Ohio River Valley.
Read More
New comet C/2021 O3 Might Brighten in May 2022
1/20/2022
A comet discovered last July is approaching the inner solar system and might reach binocular visibility (at least) by late April and early May 2022. It’s designated C/2021 O3 (PanSTARRS) and appears to be “new” to the inner solar system, a first-time visitor. If it survives its April 2022 passage near our star, the comet might become visible to amateur stargazers armed with binoculars in May. At that time, it’ll be in front of the constellation Perseus the Hero, close to the northwestern horizon after sunset.
Read More
Event Calendar
Sep 27, 2024
Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) at perihelion
Oct 12, 2024
Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) reaches perigee
Nov 29, 2024
Comet 333P/LINEAR reaches perihelion