The return of the “devil comet” after 71 years will illuminate the night sky: where and how to observe it

2024-03-18 20:32:00
After 71 years, comet Pons-Brooks, popularly known by its nickname “devil comet” due to its peculiar behavior and explosive characteristics, has returned to the night sky (AP/Matías Delacroix)

For the first time in 71 years, a comet with a diabolical, sometimes explosive but capricious nickname appears in the night sky of the Northern Hemisphere. Currently, it can only be seen with a telescope or binoculars, but it might soon be seen with the naked eye, and there is even a chance it might be seen during next month’s total solar eclipse.

Comet Pons-Brooks was last seen in 1954 before returning last summer. Like the famous Halley’s Comet, Pons-Brooks is a “short period” comet that periodically visits our part of the solar system.

Short-period comets take less than 200 years to orbit the Sun, while long-period comets can take thousands or millions of years. With an orbital period of 71 years, Comet Pons-Brooks is visible from Earth only slightly more often than Comet Halley, which appears every 76 years and was last seen in 1986.

NASA describes comets as “frozen remnants of the formation of the solar system” whose core is made up of dust, rocks and ice, and is usually the size of a small city. Some of that ice turns into gas when a comet passes near the Sun, creating a planet-sized gas cloud around the nucleus called a coma. A tail of gas and dust can extend millions of kilometers behind the comet as it races through space.

Like the famous Halley’s Comet, Pons-Brooks is a “short period” comet that periodically visits our part of the solar system (NASA)

Pons-Brooks is a “cryovolcanic” comet, meaning it sometimes experiences volcanic eruptions of gas and ice. According to Lori Feaga, a professor at the University of Maryland who studies comets, “it is probably because the ices feel the heat of the Sun for the first time,” they go into the gas phase and escape from the nucleus, dragging other dust or ice with them.

One such outburst, in July, when the comet suddenly became 100 times brighter, caused its coma to take the shape of a devil’s horns, earning it the nickname “devil comet.” Other eruptions occurred on October 5, November 1, November 14, December 14, 2023, and January 18, 2024, according to Space.com.

For many astronomers and stargazers, this will be the only opportunity in their lifetime to see Comet Pons-Brooks. “It is interesting to study it during this [visita] because we only get one chance every 70 years… and technology and telescopes have improved a lot since their last appearance,” Feaga said. “On this visit we should be able to better understand the chemical composition of the comet.”

Comet Pons-Brooks was officially discovered in 1812 by the French astronomer Jean-Louis Pons, and once more in 1883 by William Brooks, although there is evidence that it was seen as early as 1385.

Comet Pons-Brooks was last sighted in 1954, marking its long-awaited return last summer (Petr Horálek/Opava Institute of Physics/APOD NASA)

The comet is currently visible from the Northern Hemisphere at dusk, near the western horizon. For now, binoculars or a telescope are needed to see it. By late March, it might be bright enough to be seen with the naked eye from some locations, and will continue to brighten until its closest pass to the Sun on April 21. The best chance to see the comet with the naked eye will be away from city lights and with clear skies.

“Although the comet will become a little brighter, it will likely remain a binocular object” in many places, Elizabeth Warner, director of the University of Maryland Astronomical Observatory, said in an email. “From dark places, it might be visible to the naked eye.” The comet will remain visible from the northern hemisphere until early May, when it begins to fade, and then only from the southern hemisphere until June, before disappearing until 2095.

It is rumored that the comet might be visible during the total solar eclipse on April 8. If so, it might only be seen by those in the path of totality, the roughly 180-kilometer-wide strip from Texas to Maine, where the Sun will be completely blocked by the Moon and the skies will become almost as dark. dark as night, and probably only with binoculars.

“If the comet experiences a burst that makes it slightly brighter, it might be visible” to the left of the sun, near Jupiter, Warner said. “Of course, the real show is the eclipse, so don’t miss out on enjoying it by spending the entire totality hunting for the comet,” Feaga added.

(c) 2024 , The Washington Post

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