▲ Comet C/2023 H2 Lemon showing a green coma. It reaches perihelion, closest to Earth, on November 11. / Photo = Dan Bartlett A comet is flying toward Earth. It is a non-periodic comet named C/2023 H2 Lerman.
Comet Lemmon, discovered in image data from the Mount Lemmon Observatory (MLS), located at the summit of the Santa Catalina Mountains (2791m above sea level) northeast of Tucson, Arizona, in April, is shining green at the bottom of the upper photo. The thin line faintly visible above the comet’s core is the ion tail.
Taken on the 12th in dark skies over Lake June, California, this sharp telescopic image covers nearly 2 degrees of the night sky within the confines of the northern constellation Canes Hunting.
Visiting the inner solar system, Comet Lehman is currently less than 7 light-minutes away (for reference, the distance between the Earth and the Sun is about 8 light-minutes), and although it is still too dark to see through binoculars, it is getting brighter.
This comet will reach perihelion, the closest point to the sun, on the 30th, and will reach perigee, closest to the Earth, as it transitions to the northern sky from the morning to evening on the 11th of next month.
If you look upward from Hesung, you will see the large and beautiful spiral galaxy NGC 4258, known as Messier 106 (M 106), 23.5 million light-years away on the upper left, and the spiral galaxy NGC 4217, 60 million light-years away on its right. He is seen lying on his side. M 106, which is 30,000 light-years across and about one-third of the Milky Way, has the NGC 4217 galaxy as a satellite galaxy.
In early to mid-November, even with a small telescope, you will be able to see the wonderful sight of this beautiful comet decorating the Earth’s night sky.
Gwangsik Lee, Science Columnist [email protected]
