Today, the weather may finally allow the so-called “comet of the century” to be observed in the sky by a layman.
As is known, it is possible to observe comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-Atlas over the western horizon these days, which astronomers also called the comet of the century. It turned out that the brightness of the comet did not justify this title, but it will, as the president of the Orion Astronomical Society told STA a few days ago Igor Žibernacan be observed with binoculars until the end of October. With a telescope even until the second part of December. However, it is most visible in Slovenia on these days, namely at dusk, as soon as the sun sets, when it should be possible to see it even with the naked eye. At least that’s what astronomers say.
The comet, which will storm further into space and will not approach the Earth again until 80,000 years from now, is now more than 70 million kilometers away from the blue planet. Astronomers first discovered it only last year, when it was observed at the Purple Mountain Observatory in Nanjing, China, and with the ATLAS program telescope in South Africa. “It will look like a fuzzy circle with a long tail,” she explained Sally Brummeldirector of the planetarium at the Bell Museum in the US state of Minnesota. Since it visits the Earth every 80,000 years, it was last seen from our planet at the time when Neanderthals roamed around.
Source: svet24.si
