A newly discovered green comet will make its big debut next week – before disappearing for the next four centuries.
The half-mile-sized Comet Nishimura will likely be visible to the naked eye from the Northern Hemisphere for an incredible five mornings after entering our solar system on Tuesday, according to EarthSky.
The ice ball will be closest to Earth on September 12, but will pass by a safe distance of 78 million miles as it moves through its journey towards the sun.
If it survives a brush with the sun, the comet should be visible again at the end of the month, but this time only from the Southern Hemisphere.
Although visible to the naked eye, people hoping to catch a glimpse of Nishimura are warned that his tracks will be faint.
Early risers should look toward the northeastern horizon about 90 minutes before dawn and expect to see the comet pass about 10 degrees above the horizon near the constellation Leo.
Comet Nishimura can be seen just before dawn for five mornings next week.Dr. Sebastian Voltmer/Twitter
The green comet will brighten each day as it approaches the sun, but will fall lower in the sky, making it difficult to spot.
“So you really need a good pair of binoculars to pick them out and you also need to know where to look,” said Paul Chodas, manager of NASA’s Center for the Study of Near-Earth Objects.
Nishimura was discovered just a month before it was expected to pass through our solar system.
The ice ball will be closest to Earth on September 12, but will pass by a safe distance of 78 million miles.EarthSky
Japanese amateur astronomer Hideo Nishimura captured the eponymous comet as he photographed the night sky on August 11 and 12.
It had been hiding in the sun’s glare before Nishimura captured it in his image, EarthSky reported.
It is the third comet discovered by amateur astronomers.
The comet will not return to Earth again for 430 years, as long as it lives on its journey near the sun.EarthSky
Little is known about the comet, but experts theorize Nishimura may be the source of the annual Sigma-Hydrid meteor shower that lights up the night sky around December 9 to 12 each year.
The ice ball itself was likely last visited 430 years ago – a decade or two before Galileo invented the telescope.
By Postal Wire
Categories: Trending
Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
