Tsuchinshan-ATLAS might shine brightly. Is the best yet to come, though?
Today, comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS will go up close to the sun. Here are some tips for taking advantage of comet viewing prospects this weekend and in the future.
This remote, object, discovered on Jan. 9, 2023, at the Purple Mountain Observatory (Tsuchinshan) in China, was originally believed to be an asteroid before it was found to actually be a comet on Feb. 22 2023 by the Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) search program in South Africa. The orbit computed then showed that the comet would dive deep into the inner solar system a year and a half later, reaching perihelion (closest approach to the sun) at a distance of 36.38 million miles (58.54 million km) — Mercury‘s average sun distance — on Friday, Sept. 27 at 1:47 p.m. EDT
(1747 GMT).
For the past couple of weeks, skywatchers in the Southern Hemisphere and the tropics have been imaging the comet as it climbs out of bright morning twilight. With each passing morning, comet visibility is slowly improving for more northerly locations.
For those located at mid-northern latitudes (~40° north), probably the best time to try and observe the comet in the morning sky will come between Friday, Sept. 27 and Tuesday, Oct. 1. During this five-day time frame, prospective comet observers should have their best opportunity to make a sighting between 45 minutes to one hour prior to local sunrise.
