Comet C/2024 G3 ( ATLAS ) did it ! It live its perilous perihelion , get ten clip closer to the Sun than Earth does . This comet is a sungrazer comet , and the encounter made it shining – so bright that even at a considerable length , it is seeable from Earth . But it is possible that the doom was just deferred not avoided , late observations evoke that it is all come down apart .
As account bySky & Telescope , Hungarian astrophotographerLionel Majziksnapped images of the comet from Chile over the last several years , and it is clear that something is go on . While the comet ’s tail is getting brighter and larger , the coma seems to have disappeared , suggesting something is underway in the core .
comet are simplistically made of three component : The nucleus , the coma , and the fag end ( although there can be two tails ) . comet are mostly made of sparkler , so when they go near the Sun , their nucleus sublime – goes direct from self-colored to gas – form the comatoseness , the fuzzy bright part we recognise as the head of a comet .
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The Sun does not only emit light : it also electrically charged particles , the solar wind , and this create and shapes the tail . Tails can be made of detritus and gun – the primary tail , often curving – or form by the glowing ionize gas , a straightforward one send for the ion rump .
Often , star - grazing comets such asC/2024 G3do not live the encounter with the Sun , though astronomers think that this one did so in the past . This comet ’s period is 135,000 years – long for a human , but quite unretentive in cosmic terms . It belike passed by the Sun several times in the past tense , but this time might have been the concluding one .
While the comet ’s future is uncertain , it is still possible to see it . In the Northern Hemisphere , it is visible justafter sunset , but it will be very low on the southwestern horizon . In the Southern Hemisphere , it will be much higher from the horizon , closer to the West . A pair of binoculars and a clear westerly view will increase your probability of seeing it .
[ h / t : Sky&Telescope ]
