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Ephemeris: 10/08/2024 – Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS may be brighter than expected

October 8, 2024 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Tuesday, October 8th. Today the Sun will be up for 11 hours and 19 minutes, setting at 7:09, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:51. The Moon, 2 days before first quarter, will set at 10:00 this evening.

You are going to hear a lot about a bright comet visible in the evening starting this weekend. The comet with a long name Tsuchinshan-ATLAS will begin to be visible in the evening sky, and it will be very bright. It will be the brightest comet we’ve had in some time visible in the Northern Hemisphere since Comet Hale-Bopp in 1997. The reason for this comet’s great brightness is that the comet is passing between the Earth and the Sun. This comet is very dusty with an extensive dust tail. Since the comet is passing between the Earth and Sun the dust scatters sunlight in a forward direction like seeing sunbeams through holes in the clouds near sunset. This is making the comet brighter than originally predicted.

The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

The track of comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) for five nights
The track of comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) for five nights at 8 pm starting with Saturday the 12th. It might be visible on the 11th but the sky might be too bright. On that date we might be able to see the tail without seeing the head of the comet in the twilight. It should be interesting. The bright track on the lower left is Venus. Each label is the date and estimated magnitude. The comet is expected to be brighter that those estimates, especially during the first week of its appearance. Created using Stellarium.
The inner solar system with the paths of the planets and Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS
The inner solar system with the paths of the planets and Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS. The diagram is from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory Small-Body Database. I’ve added the direction arrows for the motion of the comet and the Earth. The positions of these bodies are for 8:00 PM tonight, October 8th 2024. Click or tap on the image to enlarge it. Created from the NASA/JPL interactive image, LibreOffice Draw, and GIMP.
Categories: CMEs, Ephemeris Program, Observing Tags: ,