2024-03-23 09:00:00
12P/Pons-Brooks’ comet. Photo = X capture
A comet larger than the world’s highest peak, Mount Everest, is expected to return for the first time in 70 years and be observed with the naked eye this month.
According to the British Guardian on the 11th (local time), the comet ’12P/Pons-Brooks’, which orbits once every 71.3 years, is visiting the solar system once more following being observed in 1954. It is expected to be closest to the sun on the 21st of next month.
Astronomers explained that as Comet Ponce-Brooks approaches, it will become bright enough to be observed with the naked eye over the next few weeks, creating an environment that makes it easy to observe, especially when it passes around a bright star.
Paul Ström, a professor of astronomy at the University of Warwick, said that Comet Ponce-Brooks can already be observed through observation equipment and analyzed that in the future, it will brighten up to magnitude 4.5, which can be observed with the naked eye.
He also added that Comet Ponce-Brooks is “moving from the constellation Andromeda toward the constellation Pisces,” adding, “On the 31st, it will be visible just 0.5 degrees away from a bright star called ‘Hamal.’”
12P/Pons-Brooks’ comet. Photo = X capture
Dr. Robert Massey of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) said that Comet Ponce-Brooks can be better observed in the northern hemisphere, and that the comet can be best observed by looking at the low sky in the west-northwest when the sun sets and it becomes dark. He also added that Comet Ponce-Brooks can be observed more easily using observation equipment such as a small telescope.
The diameter of this comet is estimated to be regarding 30 km, and it was discovered at the Marseille Observatory by Jean-Louis Ponce of France in July 1812, and was later rediscovered by William Robert Brooks in 1883 and given this name.
Because it takes 71 years to orbit the sun, it is famous as a comet that can only be seen once in a lifetime. It belongs to the category of Halley-type comets with an orbital period between 20 and 200 years, and is also one of the brightest periodic comets, reaching an absolute magnitude of regarding 5 degrees as it approaches perihelion.
12P/Pons-Brooks’ comet. Photo = Virtual Telescope Project
Comet Ponce-Brooks is also known as the ‘Devil’s Comet’, as dust, gas, and ice were observed spewing out in the form of a protruding horn late last year.
Reporter Wonji Lee [email protected]
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