Jamie Carter is an award-winning reporter and experienced stargazer who covers the night sky, astro-tourism, the northern lights and space exploration. He received the 2023 Popular Media Award from the American Astronomical Society's Solar Physics Division and is the author of A Stargazing Program for Beginners. Writing for Forbes.
, the comet was recently detected in images by NASA's STEREO-A spacecraft. More importantly, it appears to be intact. That more or less ensures that amateur astronomers will be able to study it as it gets closer to the sun and becomes visible from Earth. It's currently shining at magnitude 7, which is just outside the threshold for seeing an object with the unaided eye.
It's expected to be visible from the northern hemisphere in the east just before sunrise between September 27-October 2 and in the west just after sunset from October 12-31.Comets are notoriously erratic, and there’s no guarantee that this one will brighten enough to become a naked-eye object. A study—its closest to the sun—on September 27. That appears not to have happened—thus far—with its nucleus so far intact. It even seems to have a bright tail in the STEREO-A images.
A comet has a nucleus—a solid core composed of rock, dust and frozen gas—and two tails as it gets close to the sun. One is a bluish plasma tail of electrons and ions ionized by the sun's heat. The other comprises ice and dust caused by the sun heating the comet, evaporating its gas and ice. The latter is much more open and wispy.
Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS C/2023 A3 Green Comet Comet Tonight Comet Tracker Comet Of The Century Where Is The Comet Tonight Where Is The Comet Now Can I Still See The Comet Tonight
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