Catch the comet routes

In the vastness of our universe, objects constantly move and change. However, Comet Nishimura stands out as more than just an ordinary space rock. This ghostly green comet, with its mysterious origins, is now making its closest approach to Earth and visible to the naked eye.Nishimura won’t grace our skies again until 2317, making this viewing truly a “once in a lifetime” opportunity.Only a month ago, the astronomical community was taken by surprise when Comet Nishimura was discovered. The comet isn’t just dawdling through space – it’s racing at a speed of 240,000 miles per hour as it catapults around the Sun. Close encounter with the green cometThe comet is expected to make its closest approach to our planet on the morning of September 12 at a distance of 78 million miles. The ideal times to catch a glimpse will be the hour after sunset or the hour before dawn, looking in the direction of east-north-east.According to NASASpaceNews, Nishimura is currently between the constellations of Cancer and Leo. Around 4 am, the comet is visible slightly higher and to the left of the “morning star.”Dirty snowball To the naked eye, Comet Nishimura – also known as Comet C/2023 P1 – appears as a star-like blob with a thin green tail. Comets are often referred to as the visual representation of a “dirty snowball.” The terminology arises from the nature of comets, which are essentially aggregates of ice, dust, and rocky material. Unlike asteroids that are primarily composed of metals and

Update: The Green Comet (c/2022 e3 ZTF) otherwise known as Comet ZTF is currently traveling away from Earth and out of our solar system, never to return again. Your last (and best) chance to catch a glimpse will be on February 10. The full Moon will interfere until that time. (See below.)Learn more about upcoming sky events in our February Night Sky Guide.Published on January 12, 2023:Newly-discovered Comet ZTF is coming the closest to the Earth in 50,000 years, becoming visible to the unaided eye, and making big headlines. Some are calling it a “super rare” and “bright green” comet, but will it live up to the hype? We explain.Comet ZTF FactsComet ZTF was discovered in March 2022 by a wide field survey camera attached to a telescope known as Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) at the Palomar Observatory in Southern California (overseen by the Planetary Society). ZTF scans the entire northern sky every two days and captures hundreds of thousands of stars and galaxies in a single shot. Many comets have been found with this instrument. The most recent is catalogued as Comet c/2022 e3 ZTF, Comet ZTF for short.Why Is It Rare?Over the last 50,000 years, Comet ZTF has travelled a distance of 2.8 trillion miles and will make its closest approach to the Earth on Feb 1, 2023 (a distance of 26 million miles), according to Dan Bartlett/NASA. Orbital computations suggest that Comet ZTF may never return again.What Makes ZTF A Green Comet?The greenish color is likely due to a molecule made from two carbon atoms bonded together, called dicarbon. This unusual chemical process is confined chiefly to the head, not the tail. If you get a look at Comet ZTF, that greenish hue is likely to be quite faint (if it is visible at all). The appearance of green comets due to dicarbon is fairly uncommon.Recent images show the head (coma) appearing to be distinctly green and trailed by an impressively long thin blush appendage (the tail). But that is what a camera taking a long exposure sees. The tint will look much less green to the

Hope to catch the crescent moon in shot on Wednesday 13th.Comet PANSTARRS c/2011 L4 11/03/2013 19:30-19:45 PST Los Angeles ©Tim Jones" data-image-caption="Comet PANSTARRS c/2011 L4 11/03/2013 19:30-19:45 PST Los Angeles ©Tim Jones" data-medium-file=" data-large-file=" src=" alt="Comet PANSTARRS c/2011 L4 11/03/2013 19:30-19:45 PST Los Angeles ©Tim Jones" width="540" height="359" srcset=" 1024w, 476w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 540px) 100vw, 540px">Comet PANSTARRS c/2011 L4 11/03/2013 19:30-19:45 PST Los Angeles. 0.5s, f.5.6, ISO 3200, Canon 7D 100-400mm L at 400mm ©Tim JonesI was too busy last night finding the thing to notice, but I wouldn’t describe this as a ‘naked eye’ comet – so far. Detectable in 7×40 binoculars; much better in 15 x 70s.Comet PANSTARRS c/2011 L4 11/03/2013 19:30-19:45 PST Los Angeles ©Tim Jones" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file=" data-large-file=" src=" alt="Comet PANSTARRS c/2011 L4 11/03/2013 19:30-19:45 PST Los Angeles ©Tim Jones" width="540" height="810" srcset=" 682w, 317w, 1076w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 540px) 100vw, 540px">Comet PANSTARRS c/2011 L4 11/03/2013 19:30-19:45 PST Los Angeles ©Tim Jones10th March 2013Here are my first pictures of comet PANSTARRS c/2011 L4, taken shortly after sunset from the hills above Los Angeles on 10th March 2013 between 19.30 and 19.45 PST. I’m hoping to get some more shots when the comet is close to the moon on Wednesday 13th, and will update if successful. Quite a challenging subject and my first comet! Exposure info. for these: Canon 7D, 200mm and 400mm, f.5.0-5.6, 1/4 s to 1s, ISO 800 and 1600.Picture from here 10th March 2013:Comet PANSTARRS c/2011 L4 11/03/2013 19:30 PST Los Angeles ©Tim Jones" data-image-caption="Comet PANSTARRS c/2011 L4 11/03/2013 19:30 PST Los Angeles ©Tim Jones" data-medium-file=" data-large-file=" src=" alt="Comet PANSTARRS c/2011 L4 10/03/2013 19:30 PST Los Angeles ©Tim Jones" width="540" height="405" srcset=" 1024w, 476w, 1280w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 540px) 100vw, 540px">Comet PANSTARRS c/2011 L4 10/03/2013 19:30-19:45 PST Los Angeles ©Tim JonesComet PANSTARRS c/2011 L4 11/03/2013 19:30

Potential "comet of the century" will be visiting the sun for Thanksgiving Day. There's one last chance to catch this week before it fizzles or makes history. Eric Mack has been a CNET contributor since 2011. Eric and his family live 100% energy and water independent on his off-grid compound in the New Mexico desert. Eric uses his passion for writing about energy, renewables, science and climate to bring educational content to life on topics around the solar panel and deregulated energy industries. Eric helps consumers by demystifying solar, battery, renewable energy, energy choice concepts, and also reviews solar installers. Previously, Eric covered space, science, climate change and all things futuristic. His encrypted email for tips is [email protected]. Expertise Solar, solar storage, space, science, climate change, deregulated energy, DIY solar panels, DIY off-grid life projects, and CNET's "Living off the Grid" series CredentialsFinalist for the Nesta Tipping Point prize and a degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia. As always, this Thanksgiving (and Hanukkah) holiday week will be all about food, friends, family, Black Friday shopping -- and one large space snowball's existential journey around the sun that will either annihilate the comet or turn it into a majestic and luminous celestial body for a brief period of time. On second thought, I don't recall one of those things from last year. That's because Comet ISON is on target to make a once-in-a-lifetime trip around the sun on Thanksgiving afternoon. Basically a rock from deep space covered with tons of ice and snow, Comet ISON has been winging its way past Earth and our neighboring planets in recent weeks on a "sungrazing" course with our nearest star. It will reach its point of "perihelion," where it comes closest to the surface of the sun (within only 730,000 miles) on Thanksgiving afternoon and then whip around the other side of the star and head back in our direction. If ISON survives this closest encounter with the sun, it could become one of the brightest comets seen in recent decades or longer as it passes by on its way back out of the solar system in December. Or it will be turned to less than smithereens by the awesome amounts of energy being radiated by the sun and never be heard from again, kind of like the Spin Doctors, or Palm. Either way, it's a good idea to get your Comet ISON viewing plan in order now. First and last chance?If you haven't yet seen ISON, which has been visible under the right conditions with a good telescope or set of binoculars for a few weeks now, the last chance to catch a glimpse of it before its solar encounter is probably the morning of November 26 in the predawn sky. NASA says the nucleus of the comet will be below the southeastern horizon (to the right of Saturn and Mercury), but you should be able to spot its tail. If the comet does break up before it has a

Updated October 1, 2024 8:41am EDT Stream FOX 35 News: ORLANDO, Fl - If you’ve seen the stunning sunrise photos from Florida’s beaches lately, you might have noticed something extra special. Early risers are capturing the beauty of Comet A3 (C/2023 A3), hovering across the dawn sky. This rare comet, discovered in January 2023, is putting on an unforgettable show—one that’s only going to get better as we move into mid-October. When to See It The prime viewing window is now through October, with the comet’s closest approach to the Sun happening around October 12, 2024. If you want to catch it at its best, plan to head out before sunrise during the next couple of weeks. This is when the comet will likely be at its brightest due to increased solar heating, causing more gas and dust to be released from its surface, making the coma and tail more prominent. Where to Look Face east, just before dawn. You’ll want to find an open area like a beach, where you can see the horizon without any obstructions. It'll appear about where trees would otherwise block it. The comet will be low in the sky, and as the days pass, it’ll become easier to spot with the naked eye as it rises. How to See It Start your search about 45 minutes before sunrise, when the sky is still dark enough to see the comet’s glow. A good pair of binoculars will bring out more detail, especially its shimmering tail. You don’t need a telescope—just clear skies, binoculars, and patience. Credit: John Winkopp (SpaceCoastPictures @John_Winkopp on X) Comets Are Unpredictable Comets can be tricky. They don’t always follow the playbook, and every now and then, they surprise us by putting on historically spectacular shows with little or no warning. This

It’s an interstellar double header. Monday’s solar eclipse isn’t the only once-in-a-lifetime celestial event on the horizon. An explosive comet called the “Mother of Dragons” will be appearing after dusk for the next few weeks in the Northern Hemisphere, giving stargazers plenty of time to catch a glimpse.“The comet will brighten a bit as it gets closer to the sun, and it should be visible to the naked eye low in the west [each evening] about an hour after sunset,” Paul Chodas, manager of the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies, and Davide Farnocchia, a NASA navigation engineer told CNN in a joint email.The comet will be visible on the same night as the solar eclipse. REUTERSDubbed Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, this cosmic hailstone only orbits the sun once every 71 years, with its last solar circumnavigation occurring in 1954. This particular body is a cryovolcano, which erupts when a large amount of gas and ice amasses and combusts like frozen Coke can. During prior eruptions, the arctic blast caused the coma — the cloud of gas at the comet’s center — to sprout “horns” like some sort of intergalactic Beezlebub, earning 12P the moniker “Devil Comet.”As the appendages have been absent during recent viewings, astronomers have since renamed 12P the “Mother Of Dragons,” because it’s thought to have spawned the annual “kappa-Draconids” meteor shower.“The comet will brighten a bit as it gets closer to the sun, and it should be visible to the naked eye low in the west about an hour after sunset,” according to Paul Chodas, manager of the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies, and Davide Farnocchia, a NASA navigation engineer. REUTERSThe best time to witness the comet — which is three times the size of Mount Everest — will be on April 21, when it will reach its closest point to the Sun. The “Mother Of Dragons” will be nearest to Earth in June, but will only be visible in the Southern Hemisphere, meaning early April is Northerners’ best bet to get a glimpse.To witness the iceball cometh, stargazers should camp out in an unpopulated area with a good west-facing view an hour after sunset, when the intergalactic ice cube will be most visible. “You should go to a location away from city lights and with an unobstructed view of the western horizon,” according to Chodas and Farnocchia. “It would be advisable to use a pair of binoculars, since