Next month, you will be able to see a comet in the sky; It last approached Earth about 80 thousand years ago, during the time of the Neanderthals. writes about this CNN.
The celestial object called C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS was discovered recently, in 2023. This September, the comet could be observed by the inhabitants of the southern hemisphere of our planet, and now it is our turn. It can be seen from mid-October to early November.
Next Saturday, the comet will make its closest approach to Earth (distance will be approximately 71 million kilometers). It appeared near our planet for the first time in 80 thousand years, meaning there were no documented cases of observation of C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS.
The comet will be visible in the western night sky shortly after sunset. With high visual acuity visible to the naked eye, the average person will need binoculars.
“It will not leave a trace in the sky like a meteor. It will hang there and slowly change its position from night to night,” explained Bill Cook, NASA asteroid environment director.
Before that Russian scientists in the name The main astronomical events of the coming autumn. In addition to the comet in question, a supermoon will also be observed on October 17. On this day, the Moon will come closer to the Earth than any other full moon of the year. The satellite’s disk will be 7.9% larger and 15.7% brighter than the normal phase of the full Moon.
Earlier astronomers removed Rumors of a “second moon” approaching Earth.