The recently discovered green comet Nishimura come through its recent closest pass to the Sun , which is good for the comet but tough for us . It mean before long we wo n’t be able to see it and it wo n’t get around again for another 437 years , so you ’ll require to be quick to capture a last glimpse .
Comet Nishimura , or to give its full name , Comet C/2023 P1 ( Nishimura ) , wasfirst spottedon August 12 by amateur astronomer Hideo Nishimura ( the third to his name ) , and since then astrophotographers around the world have been having a hulk of time capturing its distinct photogenic green coloring and tenacious thin tail .
However , the comet takes 437 year to do a lap around the Solar System , and since it has already passed its closest glide path to the Sun it is now on its way to the outer reaches of our Solar System , and the windowpane to spot it is close .
Comet Nishimura photobombs NASA’s STEREO-A spacecraft as it was taking images of the Sun’s corona on September 20.Image credit: NASA/Stereo Science Center
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Cometshave vast tails that can extend for millions of naut mi , but their nucleus is a solid " sordid snowball " of sparkler and dust . This means they brighten as they get close-fitting to the Sun , the chicken feed heating up and the blank space stone regurgitate out a charged gas call blood plasma that becomes its tail . However , also being close to the Sun means we ca n’t see past its public eye so while it was at its close approach , passing within 33 million kilometers ( 20.5 million miles ) , we drop off lot of it .
In fact , during this turbulent clip for the comet , it was hit by a solar storm which shortly shove off away its tail end of plasma . But it ’s back , and Nishimura is still visible with a scope and opera glasses . In the Northern Hemisphere , search depressed in the western United States after sundown in the evenings . The Southern Hemisphere will have better viewing , also low after sunset but it will get steady fainter over the next few days .
Comet Nishimura wo n’t be seen in our sky again until 2458 , and neithersci - fi engineering science nor space explorationis quite there yet for you to still be around to see it , so it might just be deserving die outside to seek to catch a glimpse of this celestial visitor before it ’s too tardy .
