comets.skyhound.comComet Chasing This Month

Comet Chasing in May Comet chasing is the visual observation of telescopic comets. Jump to: Observing synopses Summary data Buy me a Coffee Th is month there are four comets visible in small telescopes, three of which are also visible in binoculars. Many more are visible in larger instruments. See the Observing Synopses for which comets are visible from your latitude, the best dates and the time of night. Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks passed perihelion on April 21 and has become a southern-hemisphere object. It continues to impress in images, now showing a small dust tail. This well-documented comet, perhaps observed as early as the year 245, experienced a large unexpected outburst in late July 2023, catapulting from a magnitude of 16.6 to 11.6 in a single day. Afterward it displayed an unusual coma shape, characterized by a distinctive ’notch’ and a pair of ’horns’ that persisted for weeks. The same pattern repeated in the following months, except in recent outbursts the ’horns’ have become longer and crived. Here is a link to a video with an animation of the July outburst aftermath 13P/Olbers will reach perihelion in late June. It is predicted to obtain maximum brightness of magnitude ~5 in early July. C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) has the potential to be a bright naked eye comet in the fall. It will reach perihelion on September 28, 2024. C/2021 S3 (PANSTARRS) passed perihelion in mid February 2024. It is now fading slowly, but continues to display a nce tail in images. 62P/Tsuchinshan passed perihelion in late December. In late January 2024, this comet passed within 0.5 AU of the earth. 144P/Kushida passed perihelion in late January 2024. In January magnitude estimates were about 1.5 magnitude brighter than previous. This comet has an orbital period of 7.5 years and is now on its way out of the inner solar system. It will next reach perihelion in late July 2031. C/2023 P1 (Nishimura) was discovered by H. Nishimura in images taken on Aug. 11 UT, at Gomyo, Kakegawa, Japan with a digital camera.This comet put on a pre-dawn show in September, especially in images, but has passed into a part of the sky that made it very difficult to observe, very low on the horizon. It has since faded and become a southern-hemisphere only comet. 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann has frequent o utbursts, typically resulting in a brightening of 0.5 - 1.0 magnitudes, which occur roughly every 59 days, typically taking 5-10 days to subside. Up to three subsequent outbursts may occur 5-10 days afterward, each typically smaller than the last, although on some occasions they can be even brighter than the first. These outbursts make 29P one of the most interesting comets to follow, both visually and scientifically. 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann has a 14.8-year orbital period, and last passed perihelion in early March 2019. It varies in its distance from the Sun from 5.8 AU (at perihelion) to 6.3 AU (at aphelion), which is an unusually small variation for a comet, and remains quite far from the sun at all times. This means that it can be observed more or less continuously. C/2014 UN271 (Bernardinelli-Bernstein) is an interesting Oort cloud comet that was reported as a result of the Dark Energy Survey. Soon after it was made public, images showed a cometary coma. Discovery credit goes to Pedro Bernardinelli and Gary Bernstein. This is a remarkable comet that was at 29 AU in 2014, with a perihelion of 10.9 AU in 2031. Its orbit extends out to 40,000 AU! It was unusually bright for its distance. Recent HST obsrvations that isolate the nucleus estimate the diamter to be between 120 and 140 km, making this possibly the largest comet nucleus yet measured. Because of its distant perihelion, this comet is not expected to become bright enough to be visually observed except in large instruments, and not until the end of the decade, but it is likely going to be the subject of intense scientific scrutiny. Comets that have apparently disentegrated : CC/2022 S3 (PANSTARRS), C/2021 P4 (ATLAS), C/2020 Q1 (Borisov), C/2020 P1 (NEOWISE), and C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS). Beware that various other sources often fail to keep track of whether or not a comet still exists! Comet Visibility in the Eyepiece This page uses code developed for SkyTools to predict the visibility of a comet in the eyepiece. Predicting how much aperture is required to see a comet is a very complex task. Have a look for yourself: a comparison of the predictions below (such as "visible in small telescopes") to the magnitude of each comet shows just how poor an indicator the magnitude alone really is. When you read below that a particular aperture is required to see a comet you can have a reasonable degree of confidence that the comet can in fact be seen in the eyepiece. But always remember, comets are like cats. They both have tails and do what they want, and not always what we expect. This is one of the things that makes comet chasing interesting! The predictions are makde for a Country /Suburban site , which is Bortle 5 , unless indicated otherwse. . Observing Synopses for May Explanation of Comet Synopses and charts (read this if you have questions) 12P/Pons-Brooks: A southern hemisphere evening comet visible in binoculars This comet begins the month in Taurus at magnitude 4.6. Look for a 4.5’ coma, condensation is a bright diffuse spot at center of coma. It should fade by about 1.5 magnitudes, moving into Lepus by month’s end. The best visibility is mid-month as seen from the southern hemisphere. FINDER CHART Latitude Visibility May 4 Visibility May 11 Visibility May 18 Visibility May 25 Visibility June 1 Nights Visible 55 o N Not visible Not visible Not visible Not visible Not visible 40 o N Not visible Not visible Not visible Not visible Not visible Equator Low in the western sky during evening twilight at ~18:40 Low in the western sky during evening twilight at ~18:40 Very low in the western sky during evening twilight at ~18:40 Very low in the western sky during evening twilight at ~18:40 Not visible 1- 30 o S Low in the western sky during evening twilight at ~18:10 Low in the western sky during evening twilight at ~18:10 Low in the western sky during evening twilight at ~18:00 Fairly high in the western sky during evening twilight at ~18:10 Fairly high in the western sky during evening twilight at ~18:00 1- 13P/Olbers: An evening comet visible in binoculars This comet begins the month in Taurus at magnitude 8.4. Look for a 2.5’ coma, diffuse condensation at center. It should brighten rapidly, moving into Auriga by month’s end. FINDER CHART Latitude Visibility May 4 Visibility May 11 Visibility May 18 Visibility May 25 Visibility June 1 Nights Visible 55 o N Not visible Low in the western sky during evening twilight at ~21:30 Low in the western sky during evening twilight at ~21:40 Low in the northern sky during evening twilight at ~22:00 Low in the northern sky during evening twilight at ~22:10 1- 40 o N Low in the western sky during evening twilight at ~20:00 Low in the western sky during evening twilight at ~20:10 Low in the western sky during evening twilight at ~20:20 Low in the western sky during evening twilight at ~20:30 Low in the western sky during evening twilight at ~20:30 1- Equator Low in the western sky during evening twilight at ~18:50 Low in the western sky during evening twilight at ~18:50 Low in the western sky during evening twilight at ~18:50 Low in the western sky during evening twilight at ~18:40 Low in the western sky during evening twilight at ~18:40 1- 30 o S Not visible Not visible Not visible Not visible Not visible 1-2 C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS): An evening comet visible in binoculars at a dark site, or a small telescope under a country sky This comet begins the month in Virgo at magnitude 10.2. Look for a 1.5’ coma, condensation is a bright diffuse spot at center of coma. It should brighten by about 0.8 magnitudes by month’s end. FINDER CHART Latitude Visibility May 4 Visibility May 11 Visibility May 18 Visibility...