Green comet Nishimura visible from Earth next week

A newly discovered comet will be visible at times as it flies by Earth next week.

Japanese space photographer Hideo Nishimura first observed Comet Nishimura in early August as he was taking images of the night sky, according to EarthSky.

Since then, the celestial object has increased in brightness as it travels through the inner solar system in an orbit around the sun.

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How to see Comet Nishimura

In Australia, the comet will make its closest approach on Friday, September 22 and will still be highly visible until the 26th.

Perth Observatory tour administrator Matt Woods told 7NEWS.com.au the comet will actually stick around for about a month until October 22, however by then it will be too far away to see.

While the comet is expected to be low during the first few days, Woods said “comets are like cats” and that ultimately it will decide what it wants to do.

Nishimura in L’Aquila, Italy, on September 7, 2023. Credit: Getty

It will be able to be seen with the naked eye. However, Woods said it would be better to have a pair of binoculars handy.

Nishimura completes one orbit about every 430 to 440 years, “which means the last time it passed close to the Sun (and might have come closer to Earth) was around the year 1590, before the invention of the telescope,” Dr. Paul Chodas, director of NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies said.

“We don’t know whether it got bright enough to be seen with (the) naked eye back then.”

If you’re trying to distinguish the comet from other objects in the night sky, keep in mind that the comet’s tail will always point away from the sun because the sunlight continually pushes on the fine dust particles, said Dave Schleicher, astronomer at Lowell Observatory in Arizona.

Schleicher said while the comet appears greenish in photos due to the presence of diatomic carbon, it will appear nearly colourless or slightly pink through binoculars as sunlight reflects off the dust grains, which are smaller than particles in talcum powder.

The best times to see the comet will be from September 22 to September 26. Credit: Perth Observatory

What’s next for Comet Nishimura

Given how closely Comet Nishimura will pass by the sun, it’s possible the intense heat might destroy it.

“As the frozen ices heat up and sublimate into gases, the comet may break up,” Chodas said.

“It depends a lot on the size of the nucleus, which we don’t know, since it’s surrounded by the ‘coma,’ an atmosphere of gas and dust.”

But given that the comet has already survived at least one previous close approach of the sun, and likely many more (although the comet’s age is unknown), it is expected to survive.

Then, more than 400 years will pass before the comet flies by Earth again.

- With CNN

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