How to see Comet Tsochenshan-Atlas with the naked eye from the skies of Jordan today, Sunday

Arab Weather - Dr. Ammar Al-Sakaji, President of the Jordanian Astronomical Society, said that the comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas C/2023 A3 will pass through its orbit around the sun at its closest distance to Earth on Sunday, October 13. Under standard astronomical conditions, it can be seen with the naked eye as a faint dot in the sky. The best times to see it are after sunset on Sunday and in the coming few days. On Sunday evening, the distance between Earth and the comet will be about 71 million kilometers, with an estimated magnitude of about 3 and a brightness of 9.7%, and it will be in the constellation Virgo.

The best time and direction to watch, observe and photograph Comet Tsochenshan-Atlas is towards the west and after sunset, i.e. at 6:30 pm on Sunday, October 13, 2024, until 7:38 pm Jordan time, and within a level horizon.

The surface angular elongation from Amman and its suburbs between Venus and comet Tsochenshan-Atlas was calculated to be approximately 24 degrees, meaning that the surface angular distance between Venus and the comet is 24 degrees to the right of Venus for an observer from Amman.

To make it easier, we can see the comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas " with the naked eye " and without observation devices, and determine the location of the comet in the sky. First, look at the western horizon at 6:30 pm on Sunday. You will see the bright planet Venus and the comet will be to its right at a horizontal distance and relatively close. You can use your fingers to determine it. Extend your right hand at arm's length, close one eye, and place the bottom of your fist in front of you, then extend your little finger (pinky) and thumb to the maximum extent, so that the rest of the fingers are facing down. Place Venus at your little finger, and comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas will be approximately in the middle of the thumb. You will see the comet as a small, faint dot. If you use different optical devices such as a mobile phone camera, professional cameras, binoculars or telescopes, you will see the comet, its tail and its colors clearly.

Comet Tsochenshan-Atlas approached perihelion on September 27, its closest approach to the sun, at about 58 million kilometers, during its journey that takes about 80,000 years to complete a full orbit around the sun, although some new studies indicate that its orbit may be non-periodic, meaning that it may never return.

Comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas C/2023 A3

The Jordanian Astronomical Society monitored and photographed it, and we published the photos during its first approach to Earth, when it was at a distance of 271 million kilometers on June 3, 2024, and its second approach on September 28, 2024, when it was at a distance of 133 million kilometers from Earth.

It is worth noting that the Zuochenshan-Atlas comet was discovered by the ATLAS observatory system on February 22, 2023, and was independently observed a few weeks earlier in January 2023 at the Zuochenshan Observatory of China, affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The source of this comet is believed to be the Oort Cloud in our solar system, which is a vast cloud of rocks and icy asteroids surrounding the sun and is relatively far from the sun at a distance of 2,000 to 200,000 astronomical units. This cloud replenishes and maintains a stable number of long-period comets entering the inner solar system, where they may eventually be consumed and destroyed during their approach to the sun.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has published the comet's Kepler orbital elements, and the eccentricity of this comet is 1.000094. This number is greater than one, meaning that it is a non-periodic comet, and is important for young researchers who are working on orbit calculations, especially applications of numerical analysis and computer simulation systems, as this number is suitable material for testing the current accuracy of the solutions of the nonlinear Kepler equation used in orbit calculations.

See also:

Jordanian Astronomical Society: New numerical criteria to define a planet

Jordanian Astronomical Society: A small moon orbits the Earth for two months