Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS

Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS will not be very visible to the naked eye, since it will pass at its closest approach to the earth about 70,500 km from us. To see it you have to observe before dawn and you have to look for it in the place or near the place where the sun is going to rise.

The Comet was discovered from the Chinese Purple Mountain Observatory on January 9, 2023 and was also found independently by Atlas in South Africa on February 22 of last year. Atlas is not a single observatory, there are four observatories distributed by the entire planet, Atlas is the acronym in English for the latest alert system for terrestrial impact of asteroids, they are like our Watchtowers to alert us of the arrival of potentially dangerous asteroids and comets, although they are not the only ones, in fact any astronomical observatory , any amateur can end up discovering an asteroid or a new comet.

Obviously the more powerful the instrument, the better results can be achieved and soon we will have a unique and very powerful instrument in space, NASA's Neo Survivor, whose main mission will be to do something that is very difficult for observatories on the ground. , is going to discover and track near-earth objects as they approach the earth, but from the direction of the sun, this is so difficult because the sun dazzles the observing equipment.

To achieve this, the ship will travel 1 million and a half kilometers from the Earth to reach the Lagrange point L1, which is a region of gravitational stability between the Earth and the sun. The launch of this ship is scheduled for June 2028.

Returning to the Comet, the dimensions of its nucleus, that is, the solid part composed mainly of ice and some dust and rocks varies depending on which source you take, it is between 5 to 15 km in diameter, it is somewhat vague, but it is complicated calculate the size of the nucleus of a comet because when it is discovered that is when it begins to shine and if it shines it is because it is surrounded by a cloud of gas product of the vaporization of ice due to the heat of the sun.

This comet has a slightly hyperbolic orbit so there is a possibility that it ends up leaving the solar system and becomes an interstellar comet. If it does not escape, it will not approach the sun again for several million years in any of the states. both cases The Comet will make a trip to the most remote reaches of the solar system.

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