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Ephemeris: 09/07/2023 – Comet Nishimura is getting brighter as it approaches the Sun

September 7, 2023 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Thursday, September 7th. Today the Sun will be up for 12 hours and 56 minutes, setting at 8:08, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:13. The Moon, 1 day past last quarter, will rise at 12:26 tomorrow morning.

Comet Nishimura is brightening as it approaches the Sun. It will reach 22% of the Earth’s distance from the Sun at perihelion, its closest to the Sun on the 17th, but will be heading south of the Sun, and not be visible to us. Currently, it is in the morning sky, in the east-northeast. At 6 to 6:30 am it will appear in the east-northeast to the left of Venus. It will be probably 4.4 magnitude, which still isn’t easily spotted in a dark sky, much less in the morning twilight glow. If it does have a tail, it will be pointed vertically up from the head of the comet. A pair of binoculars will be needed to spot the comet. Nishimura appears to be a visitor from the Oort cloud of comets, a cloud that stretches about a quarter the way to the next star to the Sun.

The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT –4 hours). They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Comet Nishimura at 6 am September 8, 2023. That’s about an hour 13 minutes before sunrise at my location. In relation to the stars, the comet is within the backwards question mark in the front of the constellation of Leo the lion, also known as the asterism (informal constellation) called the Sickle. Created using Stellarium.

Categories: Comet, Ephemeris Program, Observing Tags: