Comet Nishimura photographed from Spain on August 12
Javier Zayas Photography/Getty Images
This week, observers in the Northern Hemisphere will have the opportunity to see a comet whose green tail shines in the morning as it approaches the Sun. Comet Nishimura, or C/2023 P1, will only be visible from the Southern Hemisphere at the end of October.
When should I look for the culprit?
Comet Nishimura will be visible in the morning before sunrise until September 17 when it passes close to the sun. The best time to check them is early in the morning, seven days a week, as they can be difficult to see if they are close to the sun. After September 17, if the comet survives a close pass to the Sun, it will be difficult to see in the Northern Hemisphere but may be visible from the Southern Hemisphere.
How do you find comets?
Look northeast about an hour before sunrise, and the comet should be low in the sky, in the constellation Leo. Use a stargazing app to find out the exact location of your location.
If you can’t see the comet without any visual aids, try looking at it with binoculars, so you can see the shape of the comet’s tail. When viewed with the naked eye, it may look like a fuzzy bubble. “The hope is that it may only be visible to the naked eye but it would be better if seen through binoculars,” said Don Polacco from the University of Warwick. “With comets, you never know.”
Is Comet Nishimura rare?
Comet Nishimura was discovered a month ago by amateur astronomer Hideo Nishimura. This makes it very rare, as we usually get more warning between encountering a comet and it becoming more visible in our skies.
Comets that can be seen with the naked eye are not rare; Another green comet passed close to Earth earlier this year. However, this particular planet takes 437 years to orbit the sun, so it will only return in 2423.
Why is Nishimura green?
Comets appear green because their coma, the gas surrounding the nucleus, contains a relatively rare type of carbon gas called diatomic carbon, which consists of two carbon atoms bonded together.
What is a comet?
Comets are balls of ice and rock that orbit the Sun from the Oort Cloud, the outermost region of the solar system. As it approaches the Sun, the ice turns into gas and flows out like a tail, which we can sometimes see from Earth. This makes it difficult to predict how easily they will be visible from Earth.
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2023-09-12 11:36:41
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