Stargazers in the Brunei Darussalam will be able to witness a rare celestial treat as a bright comet is set to shine the evening skies of mid-October.
In early January 2023, Comet C/2023 A3, also known as Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, was first discovered by astronomers at the Tsuchinshan Observatory in China.
It was later confirmed in February 2023 by the ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) robotic search telescope in South Africa.
In its voyage through the Solar System, the Comet C/2023 A3 has been putting up a magnificent spectacle at dawn notably from the southern hemisphere and garnered worldwide attention in late September last month.
Comets are celestial entities composed of frozen gasses, rock, and dust – remnants from when the Solar System formed approximately 4.6 billion years ago.
As a comet gets closer to the sun, the sun’s heat causes ices in comet’s nucleus to change directly from a solid to a gas creating a coma.
When the solar wind blows the cloud material away, comet tails will form from the nucleus.
Tsuchinshan-ATLAS was at perihelion on September 28. During the closest encounter with the sun at 59 million kilometres, the comet exhibited a bright fuzzy coma and a prominent long tail that achieved the naked eye brightness of magnitude +3.
In early October, the cosmic wanderer started to swing back on its orbit from behind the sun, and will eventually disappear into the sun’s glare.
From October 5 to 13, astronomers predicted that the comet would become significantly more luminous, with intensity exceeding magnitude zero. It reached its peak visibility on October 9, as the comet progressed into conjunction with the sun.
The massive forward scattering effect of the comet’s dust-rich coma and tail, which reflect sunlight towards Earth, is responsible for the remarkable brightening.
According to the latest report from comet observers through COBS (Comet Observation database), Comet C/2023 A3 has reached a brightness of magnitude -3.3, which is almost comparable to the brightness of the planet Venus. Skywatchers in the northern hemisphere will have the best chance to spot the comet as it emerges away from the sun and approaches the Earth.
Tomorrow, Tsuchinshan-ATLAS will make its closest pass of Earth at a distance of 71 million kilometres, providing a once-in-a-lifetime possibility for observation without using binoculars or telescopes.
From Brunei, the comet remains visible low in the sky at around dusk, approximately 45 minutes to an hour after sunset, from tomorrow and potentially observable through the end of the month.
