Astrophotographers have already captured impressive images of Comet Nishimura in recent weeks. According to the portal Space.com these days could also be promising for her observation. The object made of ice and dust is approaching its closest point from Earth at a speed of 386 thousand km/h, which it will reach on Tuesday, September 12, before its closest approach to the Sun occurs on September 17 – according to the website EarthSky at a distance of 43 million kilometers from our parent star.
The comet is now making its way through the constellation of Leo in the early morning hours before sunrise. To see the comet, look to the east in the predawn hours; binoculars should help you get a solid view of the comet, advises the text from Space.com, noting that with more powerful optics, we should be able to make out the comet’s tail as well.
It becomes practically unobservable because of the Sun
However, the expert contacted by the news is trying to tame his excessive enthusiasm for the gradual approach of this comet with a diameter of about one kilometer.
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“That comet is practically unobservable in the following nights, because it will be angularly too close to the Sun and will be lost in its glow. It won’t even come very close to Earth: it will be closest on September 12 at a distance of 125 million km. And when it moves away from the Sun (in November), it will be in the southern sky and will not be visible from us,” Petr Pravec from the Department of Interplanetary Matter of the Astronomical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic commented for Novinky.
Photo: Dan Bartlett
Comet C/2023 P1 (Nishimura) in the August 21 image
Comet C/2023 P1 (Nishimura) was discovered on August 11 this year by amateur astronomer Hideo Nishimura. Specifically, he found the comet in images he took with a 200 mm f/3 telephoto lens mounted on a Canon EOS 6D camera.
Circulation period of more than 400 years
Article on the website of the Czech Astronomical Society (ČAS), he explains that amateur discoveries are relatively rare – the only chance of discovery is for comets that “ignite” only when very close to the Sun, and thus escape the powerful telescopes at observatories. These are usually periodic comets that regularly return to the Sun. This also applies to Comet Nishimura, which regularly returns to the Sun and was last here 435 years ago.
A few days ago, we could observe Comet Nishimura still in the morning around 5:00 CEST in a relatively dark sky with a brightness of 6 magnitudes, i.e. at the limit of visibility with the naked eye. In the rest of the current week, it may actually brighten up, but it will also be approaching the Sun, so it will be more difficult to see it.
Photo: Michael Jäger
Comet Nishimura on September 2nd
In addition, each day it will be lower on the horizon in increasingly brighter skies. On Tuesday, September 12, when it will be visible from us for the last time in the morning, according to ČAS, it will be around 3.8 mag.
In order to be able to observe the comet under these conditions, we must go to an elevated place with good visibility up to the horizon, in the direction where the Sun rises or sets.
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However, the comet can surprise and reach a significantly greater brightness than predicted. However, due to its proximity to the Sun, the comet’s nucleus may crumble, fragment, or completely disintegrate due to the significant thermal stress. In all these cases, there would be a brightening of several magnitudes and the formation of a bright tail, which will then slowly lengthen.
“The comet looks beautiful, it’s a pleasure to watch,” commented Italian astronomer Gianluca Masi, founder of the Virtual Telescope project, a few days ago.
However, as the astronomer Pravec said, it will not offer much new to ordinary domestic observers – despite the “tempting information” about the object’s closest approach to our planet soon.
Hideo Nishimura already discovered two comets in the past: in 1994 it was C/1994 N1 (Nakamura-Nishimura-Machholz) and the year before last the body C/2021 O1 (Nishimura).
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2023-09-08 09:20:35
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