The comet can be admired throughout the end of October

To the evening sky an interesting sight appears in mid-October. A comet with a clearly visible tail can be seen in the western sky. That is, a real comet.

Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS will appear from the horizon in the evening in the direction of the Sun, when at least half an hour has passed since sunset.

In Helsinki, this happens roughly from October 13. If it goes well, the comet can also be seen with the naked eye.

Comet The Tsuchinshan Atlas has already been clearly visible in the southern hemisphere.

“The view was absolutely amazing! The comet is visually clearly visible,” says Tähdet ja Avaruus on the website Juri Beletskywhich photographed the comet on September 26.

Beletskyn pictures are displayed in the message service X. He admired the apparition in the Atacama desert in Chile. A comet also presented by Astronomy magazine. It also tells about the comet for example, the website Space.com.

Comet the tail covers a distance of at least several degrees across the sky. A tail is created when the comet’s nucleus, comewarm near the Sun.

Comets are composed of ice, rock and gases. The dust is trapped in the ice, which begins to melt as it heats up near the Sun. The water evaporates and a beautiful and even long tail can be born from it, which always points away from the Sun.

This is how comets differ from asteroids. They are rocky bodies in space that orbit the Sun.

Soon that is, on Saturday, October 12, the comet will pass the sky closest to Earth. It is then about 71 million kilometers from Earth.

The comet will then begin to appear near the western horizon.

The comet will pop into view around October 13th, as it moves farther from the Sun’s beam.

It rises higher on the horizon day by day. It can be observed throughout the second half of October.

Comet first observed on January 9, 2023 by the Tsuchinshan or Purple Mountain Observatory near Nanjing in eastern China. At that time it was not yet verified as a comet.

It was confirmed as a comet in February 2023 by the US space agency NASA’s Atlas telescope, located in Sutherland, South Africa.

The task of Atlas is to search for objects in near space that have not yet been identified.

The comet’s full name includes its discoverers, hence its name Tsuchinshan–Atlas. It has also been succinctly referred to by the catalog name C/2023 A3, or informally just Comet A3.

The comet is told, for example, by Britannia Royal Astronomical Society video.

Comet During the spring and summer, the brightness has been evaluated in many areas.

In the spring, we already had time to bet that it would be the brightest in decades. It could shine in the night sky as bright as the planet Jupiter at its best.

“It probably won’t happen this way, but Tsuchinshan-ATLAS is still nicer than the usual comet,” he says Marko Pekkola. He is the editor-in-chief of Ursa’s Tähdet ja väjä magazine.

“Especially for photographers, this comet has been the best target for a long time at more southern latitudes,” he says.

“Hopefully this will also happen in Finland, and the comet will not disintegrate before mid-October.”

Comet A3 has not previously visited the inner parts of the solar system. Therefore, its core is virgin. In its core there are plenty of gases that have not previously evaporated in the heat.

The future brightness of the comet was and is therefore particularly difficult to predict.

“Bright comets are quite rare. So if you get a chance to watch it, watch it,” encourages on the BBC website astronomer Robert Massey. He is a director of the British Royal Astronomical Society.

“You may have to use binoculars if you want to see it properly.”

“On the other hand, you might be able to go outside and say, wow, there’s a comet, without needing binoculars,” Massey promises.

Astronomers don’t know when another comet will next come close to Earth and remain intact. That’s why you shouldn’t miss this opportunity, says Massey.

The best days are only a couple of days after October 13, guess industry enthusiasts Ursa, or the astronomical association In the Taivaanvahti service.

If you look in the right direction almost to the west, you will see the serpent’s head constellation near the horizon. The comet is near it.

Later, it travels to the left in the direction of the Serpent Bearer constellations. To help you find the comet, you can use Ursa’s free Star Map application. The current position of the comet is marked on it.

In October 13.–14. around daytime, its brightness could be between magnitudes two and three, according to the forecast. It’s quite a good brightness for a comet, like the constellation Otava.

At best, the comet’s path will rise by about two degrees per day.

For example, on October 20 at 20:24, the disturbingly bright Sun is minus 18 degrees below the horizon as seen from Helsinki. The western sky is therefore completely dark.

The comet itself is almost 14 degrees high against the black sky. The comet’s tail may not be very visible to the naked eye, but it is to photographers.

“The comet has gratifyingly followed the brightness forecast, and no major, harmful decay has occurred,” states Pekkola.

“In October, the light scatters from the comet’s dust directly towards the viewer. It helps to see the phenomenon.”

New there will be no chance of seeing Comet A3. It has been traveling towards us from the southern Oort cloud for more than 80,000 years.

The comet’s trajectory is such that it will forever hurtle into outer space.