New comet makes historically close approach to Earth today, but spotting it will take some luck | 24CA News

There’s a newly found comet within the sky, and it is about to make its closest flyby of Earth.

Comet Nishimura (C/2023 P1) will zip previous the planet at a distance of roughly 125 million kilometres in the present day. 

The comet was found on Aug. 12 by beginner astronomer and comet-hunter Hideo Nishimura, utilizing his telescope in Kakegawa City, Japan, roughly 180 kilometres southwest of Tokyo.

Unlike another current comets, Comet Nishimura has solely been seen within the pre-dawn sky somewhat than later at evening, which has made it an early-morning catch. It is now transitioning to early-evening visibility, although will probably be difficult to see as it’s going to lie low on the horizon simply after sundown.

Some early risers have managed to seize Comet Nishimura earlier than dawn because it has made its method over the previous few days, most of them with telescopes.

And there have additionally been some spectacular photographs from astrophotographers utilizing massive telescopes.

Over the next couple of days, Comet Nishimura can be seen in the early morning, low on the eastern horizon, or just after sunset, low in the western sky. Starting on Thursday, it will only be visible in the evening near the western horizon.

The comet’s brightness is rated around 4.0 on the magnitude scale used by astronomers, which means it is visible to the unaided eye, even in urban settings. By comparison, the full moon has a brightness magnitude of -12.6 on the scale, in which the brightest bodies in the sky have the lowest ratings, and stars that are visible only with binoculars have a magnitude of 9.5.

However, because its orbit takes it so close to the sun (as seen from Earth), the comet is difficult to spot.

“While it will get closest to Earth [today], will probably be very arduous to see even when [it is] pretty vibrant, as will probably be low to the horizon from Canada simply after sundown or simply earlier than dawn,” said Peter Brown, professor and Canada Research Chair at Western University’s department of physics and astronomy.

“It is not going to be as spectacular as Comet NEOWISE [was] in 2020, and can possible be arduous for most people to see as something besides a really faint smudge.”

But if you’re up for a challenge, you can visit TheSkyLive.com and enter your location to see when the comet rises and sets in your area. 

At the moment, Comet Nishimura is in the constellation Leo, but it will move into Virgo on Saturday. Then, on Sunday, the comet will make its closest approach to the sun: roughly 34 million kilometres away, inside the orbit of the closest planet to the sun, Mercury.

What happens then is anyone’s guess: either it lives to see another orbit — roughly 400 years from now — or it could break apart.

Comet’s discovery highlights amateurs’ contributions

Hideo Nishimura has already helped discover two other comets: Comet Nakamura-Nishimura-Machholz (C/1994 N1) and a previous Comet Nishimura (C/2021 O1). His findings are an example of the valuable contributions that continue to be made by amateur astronomers, even though there are now several large-scale, automated sky surveys done by large telescopes around the world, such as Pan-STARRS.

There has also been some speculation that this comet may have been responsible for creating a lesser-known meteor shower called the Sigma Hydrids, which next runs from Nov. 22 to Jan. 4, and peaks on Dec. 7.

If that’s true, there could be increased activity during this meteor shower’s run, although there is no guarantee.