[Night shot of a mountain and Comet in sky for representation.]
Mumbai: Nishimura, a new Comet discovered just a month ago, is making its way through our cosmic neighborhood for the first time in over 400 years and could be seen with naked eyes this weekend.
Named after the Japanese amateur astronomer Hideo Nishimura who first spotted it on 11 August, the kilometer-sized celestial body will pass Earth safely on September 12, at a distance of over 80 million kilometers.
"Comet Nishimura is set to make its closest approach to Earth on September 13 and reach its closest proximity to the Sun on September 18. It's expected to brighten to a magnitude of 1.8. Its closest approach to us will be on Sep 12 and its perihelion on Sep 17/18," said the weather forecasting platform Weather Channel India.
This means that the Comet will be best visible on September 12. On this date, you can watch it with a naked eye, meaning without Telescope, shortly before sunrise in a north-eastern direction to the left of Venus.
The ball of rock and ice, is formally called C/2023 P1. Astronomers claim:
"The Comet is planning to perform an intense gravitational slingshot following a hyperbolic orbit. It's going to loop around the Sun, getting incredibly close. And then, like a cosmic gymnast, it will be thrown back into the depths of interstellar space." .
Based on calculations it is reported that Comet Nishimura has an orbital period of around 437 years. This means that the comet will be visible once in that many years.
Recall, one of the best known comets, Halley’s Comet that made its last appearance in 1986, takes 76 years to orbit the solar system.
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