Then it is worth taking a look at the night sky

Comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas passes particularly close to Earth in October. It is said that it can be seen even at dusk. On this day it is worth taking a look at the sky.

Special celestial phenomena were not uncommon in Germany in 2024. The Perseids reached their peak in mid-August. A tropical night provided a perfect view of shooting stars. Two weeks later, a Starlink satellite burned up in the atmosphere. The scene of the fire was also clearly visible in the city of Heilbronn. The next highlight in the night sky awaits in October 2024.

When is Comet Atlas expected to be visible to the naked eye?

Comet Tsuchenshan-Atlas C/2023 A39 is then expected to become a tail star, which can be seen with the naked eye on the western horizon at dusk. The comet was discovered on January 9, 2023, and is heading towards the sun for the first time since then. In such cases, it is very difficult to predict their behavior, wrote “fr.de”.

From the beginning of the week until the end of the week, Comet Atlas can be spotted in the east just before sunrise, with visibility improving day after day. Because: The comet is approaching: According to Caroline Lefke of the Haus der Astronomie in Heidelberg, it will disappear from the morning sky from October 5 or 6 and pass close to the Sun for a few days before reappearing in the evening sky.

Comet ATLAS disappears briefly, then reappears in mid-October

During this phase it passes through the field of view of the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). Observation is only possible with a satellite because the bright sun is covered by a disk in the center of the image in these images.

• From September 30 to October 4: Comet Atlas appears in the east before sunrise
• It will disappear briefly from October 5 or 6
• It can be easily seen with the naked eye at dusk in the west as of October 11
• October 12-14: Best view of Comet ATLAS
• On October 13: The comet reaches its closest point to Earth

From around October 11, visitors from Germany should be clearly visible with the naked eye – you should have a clear view to the west at dusk, if possible from a dark location. The comet had just passed in front of the Sun, thus vaporizing a lot of material, and its tail would have been particularly evident, Lefke explains.

Comet in the night sky: Best time to see the Zouchenshan Atlas

The view will likely be best between October 12 and 14. On the thirteenth, the comet’s orbit reaches its closest point to Earth at a distance of about 70 million kilometers, that is, nearly half the distance from Earth to the Sun. From November onwards, visitors may no longer be visible to the naked eye. However, Lefke emphasizes that it is not possible to predict with certainty how good the observability will actually be.

Zouchenshan Atlas of the Night Sky: The comet comes from the furthest reaches of the solar system

The Zouchenshan Atlas was discovered at the beginning of 2023 – and the name comes from the telescope systems in China and South Africa that first spotted it. The celestial body is one of the non-periodic comets that – if this happens – approaches Earth again only after a longer period of time. “The Tsuchenshan Atlas will likely not return in the foreseeable future,” Lefke says. Therefore, the visitor comes from the Oort Cloud, a spherical group of objects located at the outer edge of the solar system. The last time Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3) had a brightness similar to the Tsuchenshan Atlas was in the summer of 2020.