Hello Little Comet, Where Have You Been?

As you are read this story you might be interested in knowing that there is comet out there in our solar system hurtling towards our Sun at, well comet speed. Comet speeds vary as they approach and depart a heavenly body of great mass and in this instance that great mass would be our Sun. Comets, which include this one C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) are amazing and exciting objects that are basically just a dirty snowball made of ice, dust, and rock. This particular comet was discovered in January 2023 by two groups of scientists: one at the Purple Mountain Observatory in China, and the other with the ATLAS project in Hawaii. That’s why it has the name “Tsuchinshan-ATLAS.”

Comets come from the very far reaches of our solar system called the Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud. Comet C/2023 A3 has been traveling through space for billions of years! It carries within it very old material, like a time capsule from when the solar system was just forming.

As the comet gets closer to the Sun, something really cool happens. The Sun’s heat warms up the comet, causing the ice to turn into gas. This makes the glowing cloud called a coma around the comet and it’s tail. As a comet reaches around the orbit of Jupiter (500 million miles from the sun) there it will encounter greater and greater solar resistance, the solar wind which causes the comet tail to get longer and longer. This tail always points away from the Sun like a sail in the wind.

Scientist and citizens alike are really excited about Comet C/2023 A3. Scientists think it might become bright enough to see with the naked eye when it gets close to the Sun in late 2024. Imagine looking up at the night sky and seeing a bright star with a long, glowing tail – that could be this comet!

Comets like C/2023 A3 are very important for scientists. They help us learn about the early days of our solar system because in them are materials that have been frozen in time for billions of years. By studying comets, scientists can understand more about how the solar system and the planets, including the Earth which were formed and seeded with organic matter.

Scientists believe that comets and asteroids are how water and important chemicals were brought to the Earth a long time ago. These ingredients could have helped life to start on our planet so, studying comets can also help us learn more about the origins of life on Earth.

So this S­ummer and this Fall take a moment to look up from time to time and try to spot this wonderful visitor that hasn’t seen the Sun in 80,660 years, the last time it come around. This visit reminds us of the incredible and wondrous universe we live in and if you see her up there in the night sky, give her a wave and a thank you from me.

Citizen Vatch