It’s not day-after-day, or yearly for that matter, that we get to see a very shiny comet. Many people, together with the writer of this text, bear in mind comet Hale-Bopp that adorned Earth’s skies within the first months of 1997. Since then we’ve had a number of comets shiny sufficient to be plainly seen to the attention, as an illustration Ikeya-Zhang in 2002 and McNaught in 2007, although arguably none as spectacular as H-B. Certainly, there have been no new shiny comets since comet Lovejoy again in 2011 (pictured). Now, there’s a critical contender for the proverbial “subsequent shiny comet”: C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS), or simply ATLAS, found simply earlier than the New 12 months and steadily getting brighter since then. Although comets are notoriously troublesome to foretell, it’s now fairly potential the comet will grow to be shiny sufficient to rival Sirius, the brightest star within the sky – which, by the way, can at present be seen low within the south after sundown. Comet Lovejoy, seen from Santiago, Chile on 22 December 2011. Supply: Wikipedia Commons Comet ATLAS at present resides within the outskirts of the constellation of Ursa Main aka the Plough. It seems as a tiny smudge of sunshine shining at eighth magnitude, considerably fainter than the faintest stars seen with the bare eye. It’s heading in the direction of Perseus, which it would attain in mid-Could, and may then be marginally seen to the attention as a night object within the north-west. From mid to late Could, it needs to be potential to choose up the comet within the night but in addition the morning sky; its closest strategy to our planet happens on 23 Could at a distance of 70 million miles, about three quarters of the Earth’s distance from the Solar. The comet ought to attain most brightness in late Could or early June and be misplaced within the Solar’s glare. It could, nevertheless, nonetheless be potential to make out a sufficiently lengthy & distinguished tail – offered one develops – and presenting an identical spectacle to comet Lovejoy again in 2011 within the skies Down Beneath. Extra assets: Article on comet ATLAS by Sky & Telescope journal Info on the orbit and brightness of the comet from Seiichi Yoshida, together with footage The post #astronomy The brilliant comet of 2020? – Astronotes appeared first on Astronomy Hobby Zone. from https://astronomy-hobby-zone.eshcarmel.org/astronomy-the-brilliant-comet-of-2020-astronotes/
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