New ‘Sungrazing’ Comet May Outshine Venus—If It Survives the Coming Weeks

A recently discovered comet is heading for a dangerously adjacent brushwood with the Sun, which could either destruct it oregon marque it radiance brighter than Venus.

The Hawaii-based ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) survey spotted the comet connected Friday, September 27, and it rapidly caught the attraction of astronomers for its imaginable to enactment connected a spectacular amusement successful the nighttime skies. The comet is inactive truthful caller that it doesn’t person a sanction yet, but it has been designated arsenic comet A11bP7I.

This recently spotted comet should not beryllium confused with Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinan-Atlas), which China’s Tsuchinshan Observatory discovered successful January 2023 and is present disposable to the unaided eye.

Although it doesn’t person its ain name, it is portion of a radical of comets called Kreutz sungrazers. “Sungrazing comets get their sanction from their uniquely close-approach to the Sun during perihelion,” Ariel Graykowsi, pb of Unistellar’s comet campaign, which partners with national scientists to show comet activity, told Gizmodo. “Most sungrazing comets person a precise akin orbit, which tells astronomers that these comets are apt fragments of a genitor body.”

Astronomer Heinrich Kreutz archetypal noticed that respective comets stock akin orbits, coming wrong a precise adjacent region to the Sun. The Kreutz sungrazers apt each came from a large comet that broke isolated years ago, and they each thin to beryllium tiny small guys. That’s wherefore during the comets’ adjacent attack to the Sun, they either wholly disintegrate oregon clang into the star. Some fortunate comets, however, bash past the adjacent encounter.

One specified illustration is comet Lovejoy. Discovered successful 2011, the agelong play comet and Kreutz sungrazer survived its perihelion and emitted a unsocial bluish and greenish glow that lit up the nighttime skies. Unfortunately, the comet’s nucleus wholly disintegrated conscionable a fewer days aft its perihelion. In 1965, comet Ikeya-Seki was discovered by 2 amateur astronomers from Japan. The comet besides survived its rendezvous with the Sun, and reached a brightness magnitude of -11, oregon astir arsenic agleam arsenic a half-Moon and disposable to the unaided eye.

“I’m excited to spot what this comet does,” Graykowsi said. The recently discovered comet is acceptable to marque its closest attack to the Sun connected October 28. If it does survive, which I’m truly hoping it does, the comet could scope a magnitude of -7. That’s brighter than Venus, the brightest satellite successful the star system, which has a magnitude of -4.6.

The comet volition apt beryllium disposable to observers successful the confederate hemisphere arsenic it approaches perihelion, truthful there’s a accidental we’ll beryllium capable to spot it earlier it either breaks isolated oregon outshines Venus, according to EarthSky. Following its adjacent brushwood with the Sun, the comet has the imaginable to wow the bluish hemisphere with 1 hellhole of a airy show. “I anticipation it survives perihelion capable for america to spot it,” Graykowsi said.

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