2023-09-16 19:03:09
Small binoculars will be enough to enjoy the spectacle, and some might even see it with the naked eye if the atmospheric conditions are suitable. Comet Nishimura, discovered only a month ago, is currently heading towards the Sun and shines to its fullest this weekend.
This small rocky and icy body, whose exact size is not yet known, takes its name from a Japanese amateur astronomer, Hideo Nishimura, who observed it for the first time on August 11. “It is rare to discover a comet so shortly before its maximum clairvoyance. Most are discovered months, even years before their passage closest to the Sun”underlines Nicolas Biver, CNRS researcher at the Paris Observatory – PSL.
“C/2023 P1”, its scientific name, has a long-period orbit with a final passage near the Sun which dates back 437 years, he explains to AFP. No trace of the last passage of this icy visitor has been found in the astronomical archives, specifies the astrophysicist.
When comets, these celestial bodies coming from the cold regions of the solar system, approach our star, the ice contained in their core sublimates (it goes from the solid state to the gaseous state without going through the liquid state) and lets out a long trail of dust reflecting the light of the Sun. It is this shiny hair that we can observe from Earth.
Comet Nishimura will pass closest to the Sun on September 17: it will then be 33 million kilometers from the star, i.e. “less than a quarter of the distance from the Earth to the Sun”and 125 million km from the Earth, according to Nicolas Biver.
How to observe it?
We can already observe it, and it will be this weekend that it will be the brightest, especially in the northern hemisphere. “The best is to look at the sky before sunrise (around 6 a.m. in France, Editor’s note), towards the northeast to the left of Venus (commonly called the Shepherd’s Star), in a clear sky and without light pollution”advises the researcher.
Small binoculars will be enough to observe the comet, which some might even see with the naked eye if atmospheric conditions are good. Comet Nishimura’s trail is greenish in color, due to the fact that it contains “more gas than dust”.
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