In the same way that in August we were able to enjoy the Perseids like every year, October also brings us a highly anticipated astronomical event: the so-called comet of the century, which is already starting to be seen from Europe.
If you don’t want to miss it, we tell you What days can you see it best? and how to locate the right places to observe it using a map that you can carry on your cell phone.
Get ready for next weekend
Image: Adam Krypel (Pixabay)
Although we have been observing them with telescopes for a few months, it is now, in October, that the comet of the century can be seen with the naked eye. And what is the comet of the century? This is how comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) is known because of the possibility that it is brighter than any other comet of the 20th century.
It is a non-periodic comet of the Oort cloud which was discovered in January last year by two astronomical observatories at the same time: China’s Purple Mountain Observatory and Hawaii’s Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) project.
Comet A3 follows an elliptical orbit around the sun and It will take tens of thousands of years crossing the solar system. In recent months, due to the heat of the sun as it enters between the orbits of Mars and Earth, the comet’s weak tail has grown rapidly.
The key days for observing the comet will be October 12 and 13 at sunsetwhile it should reach its maximum brightness as it approaches “the Earth (around 71,000 km). In the southern hemisphere, it is already possible to see it at dawn since September, but in the northern hemisphere, we have started to see it in recent days.
To find it, you need to look towards the constellation Virgo (you can locate it using a star mapping app). The best places to observe it are those with less light pollution. By consulting this map on the Light Pollution Map website or an application like “Light Pollution Map – Dark Sky” (available for free for Android), you can find out what it is.
Cover image | Kev (Pixabay)
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