The Brightest Comet of 2025 Is Coming. Here’s How You Can See It Shine

Hot connected the process of the Quadrantids meteor shower, different spectacle successful the entity is astir to arrive: comet Atlas C/2024 G3, which volition scope perihelion—the constituent of its orbit closest to the sun—on January 13. On the aforesaid day, we volition besides spot it astatine its closest constituent to Earth, and it could go 2025’s brightest comet, during a twelvemonth successful which nary different comets are apt to beryllium disposable to the bare eye. Here’s everything you request to know.

C/2024 G3 was discovered connected April 5, 2024, by the Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System (Atlas)—a web of telescopes that scans abstraction for asteroids that could perchance deed Earth. The comet comes from the Oort Cloud, a distant portion astatine the outer borderline of the star strategy that is believed to incorporate the remnants of the materials that formed the star systems’s planets.

When comet C/2024 G3 reaches perihelion, it volition travel wrong conscionable 13.5 cardinal kilometers of the sun—for context, Mercury, the satellite closest to the sun, orbits the prima astatine a region of 47 cardinal kilometers. According to the latest calculations reported by the Planetary Society, C/2024 G3 could scope a brightness of magnitude –4.5, which is astir the aforesaid arsenic Venus, and is apt to beryllium disposable to the bare oculus for radical located successful the confederate hemisphere.

The comet’s unusually adjacent travel to the sun, however, raises questions astir whether it volition survive. Its orbital way suggests that it is simply a dynamically aged comet, and that this isn’t its archetypal travel astir the sun. In fact, its past attack is estimated to person been astir 160,000 years ago, which means it whitethorn person already survived a adjacent pass. “It volition beryllium precise heated and whitethorn not survive,” says Nick James, manager of the comet conception of the British Astronomical Association. “But if it does, it could beryllium an awesome entity successful the evening entity from the confederate hemisphere aft perihelion.”

How to Observe the Comet

Should it past unscathed, the comet volition beryllium disposable successful the confederate hemisphere to the westbound conscionable aft sunset connected January 13. The comet’s orbital configuration makes it hard to observe for those successful the bluish hemisphere—it volition look precise debased successful the entity conscionable aft sunset oregon earlier sunrise, but is apt to beryllium drowned retired by twilight.

The comet’s proximity to the prima means that identifying it could beryllium dangerous, and James says that C/2024 G3 “should lone beryllium observed if you are an experienced observer.” Looking straight astatine the prima without protective instrumentality tin origin imperishable oculus damage.

There volition besides beryllium interference from the airy of the moon, which volition beryllium successful its waning phases, which could marque reflection much difficult. Observing the comet with the bare oculus successful the confederate hemisphere mightiness beryllium possible, but binoculars oregon a scope mightiness beryllium needed.

Those who bash not privation to miss the amusement tin travel the comet successful images from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory’s Lasco C3 coronagraph, oregon consult the IAU Minor Planet Center oregon the Comet OBServation (COBS) database.

This communicative primitively appeared on WIRED Italia and has been translated from Italian.