Expert warning over bright ‘Halloween comet’ that’s set to blast through the sky in days
AN EXPERT has issued an update on the chances of seeing a “Halloween comet” very soon and the outlook isn’t good.
Skygazers have already been treated to a rare comet that only passes by Earth every 80,000 years over the last few days.
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Comet C/2023 A3, also known as Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, was visible across parts of the UK and US leaving a long orange tail in its path as it passed overhead.
The rock, effectively a block of ancient ice, is 30,000 miles in diameter, with a tail stretching more than 18million miles.
Tuesday was the last best chance to see the comet, with visibility reducing significantly each day from now on.
Space fans were hoping to catch a glimpse of another, dubbed the “Halloween comet” but an astronomer has cast doubts over the event.
Officially known as C/2024 S1 (Atlas), the comet is actually a fragment of a much bigger comet that broke apart more than a thousand years ago.
It was only spotted on September 27 and experts had expected the rock to appear brighter than Venus.
People had October 28 marked in their calendars to see the comet.
But Dr Qicheng Zhang, an astronomer at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, has warned it might not be visible at all.
“There’s just as good a chance it falls apart before its close encounter with the sun on Oct. 28, and that would result in virtually nothing being visible afterward in November,” Dr Zhang told Forbes.
Although the comet is currently at a pretty safe distance from the Sun, it is “possible that strong vaporization of a large amount of gas occurred which, together with the tidal or rotational forces acting on the comet’s nucleus may have led to its fragmentation,” according to astronomerstelegram.org.
However, others have noted that Comet C/2023 A3 faced similar rumours and still survived to be visible, so all hope isn’t lost just yet.
There’s also a chance of a “headless” comet becoming visible instead.
Astronomers are closely tracking the rock so we will have a better idea about the chances of seeing it nearer to the time.
In the meantime, if you’re looking for a space sighting to behold, you might want to look out for the Hunter’s Supermoon instead this week.
What’s the difference between an asteroid, meteor and comet?
Here’s what you need to know, according to Nasa…
- Asteroid: An asteroid is a small rocky body that orbits the Sun. Most are found in the asteroid belt (between Mars and Jupiter) but they can be found anywhere (including in a path that can impact Earth)
- Meteoroid: When two asteroids hit each other, the small chunks that break off are called meteoroids
- Meteor: If a meteoroid enters the Earth’s atmosphere, it begins to vapourise and then becomes a meteor. On Earth, it’ll look like a streak of light in the sky, because the rock is burning up
- Meteorite: If a meteoroid doesn’t vapourise completely and survives the trip through Earth’s atmosphere, it can land on the Earth. At that point, it becomes a meteorite
- Comet: Like asteroids, a comet orbits the Sun. However rather than being made mostly of rock, a comet contains lots of ice and gas, which can result in amazing tails forming behind them (thanks to the ice and dust vaporizing)
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