A NEW ‘Halloween Comet’ may be visible in daylit skies for one to two hours this week as it makes its closest approach of Earth.
As the once-in-a-lifetime Comet C/2023 A3 fades away, another space rock is preparing to take centre stage.
C/2024 S1 will make its closest approach to Earth on 23 and 24 October[/caption]
Comets are rarely bright enough to be seen in daylight, but models suggest this hunk of celestial debris will be as bright as Venus is at night.
It’s visibility is not completely assured, however.
Experts have warned that the comet may disintegrate as it passes the Sun, before it has the chance to be visible to Earth-dwellers.
The sun-grazer comet, dubbed C/2024 S1 (Atlas), is expected to be an “all or nothing event”, according to astronomer Dr. Qicheng Zhang at Flagstaff, Arizona’s Lowell Observatory.
Astronomy tracker Sky Live slates the comet’s brightest periods to be from 7:15am BST (6:41am EDT).
Given its current brightness, C/2024 S1 is only visible with the help of binoculars with a 80mm aperture or a small telescope.
But it is expected to brighten over the coming days, when it will eventually be visible to the naked eye for one to two hours in the morning.
C/2024 S1 will make its closest approach to Earth on 23 and 24 October.
Between 24 October (Thursday) and 28 October (Monday) is when the comet will begin to dramatically brighten and become visible to the naked eye, according to StarWalk.
Discovered in late September by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) in Hawaii, the comet will best viewed from Europe, Africa, South America and the East Coast of the US.
Some astronomers note that the comet is already showing signs of breaking up.
The brightness of the comet has begun to fluctuate, suggesting it may well become ‘headless’ by Halloween.
A ‘headless’ comet is when the primary core of the space rock falls apart.
If Atlas does indeed keep its head, it could get brighter throughout the week and be visible to the naked eye until 2 November.
Amateur astronomers can use binoculars or telescopes to catch the comet right up to 19 December – if it doesn’t disintegrate before then.
What’s the difference between an asteroid, meteor and comet?
Here’s what you need to know, according to Nasa…
- Asteroid: An asteroid is a small rocky body that orbits the Sun. Most are found in the asteroid belt (between Mars and Jupiter) but they can be found anywhere (including in a path that can impact Earth)
- Meteoroid: When two asteroids hit each other, the small chunks that break off are called meteoroids
- Meteor: If a meteoroid enters the Earth’s atmosphere, it begins to vapourise and then becomes a meteor. On Earth, it’ll look like a streak of light in the sky, because the rock is burning up
- Meteorite: If a meteoroid doesn’t vapourise completely and survives the trip through Earth’s atmosphere, it can land on the Earth. At that point, it becomes a meteorite
- Comet: Like asteroids, a comet orbits the Sun. However rather than being made mostly of rock, a comet contains lots of ice and gas, which can result in amazing tails forming behind them (thanks to the ice and dust vaporizing)
