Throughout the first half of October, an extremely bright comet, known as Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, will be visible to the naked eye in parts of the sky late at night and early in the morning. However, another more recently discovered comet, known as C/2024 S1, may also be visible.
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Astronomers have just discovered a second comet, C/2024 S1 (ATLAS), which will also make its closest approach to planet this month and may be visible without a telescope.
In recent weeks, skywatchers have been obsessed with Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, which was first discovered in early 2023. The comet was previously predicted to disintegrate on its approach to Earth, but it has remained intact and will make its closest approach to our planet on Saturday, October 12. It can be spotted with the naked eye and has been captured in many stunning photos, but will likely begin to fade from view in the coming weeks.
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But on September 27, astronomers at Hawaii’s Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System project, which played a role in the Tsuchinshan–ATLAS discovery, spotted C/2024 S1 for the first time. The discovered comet was initially named “A11bP7I,” but after observations confirmed its existence, it was given its official new title, according to the Virtual Telescope Project.
Not much is known about the size, shape or orbit of comet C/2024 S1 around the sun. However, it likely came from the Oort Cloud – a large pool of comets and other icy objects near the edge of the solar system – and likely hasn't been this close to the sun for eons.
The newly discovered comet will make its closest approach to Earth on October 24, when it will come within 131.6 million kilometers of our planet. Four days later, on October 28, it will reach its closest point to the sun, or perihelion, when it will pass our solar system's star at a distance of about 1.2 million kilometers.
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C/2024 S1 is what astronomers call a “sungrazer” comet because it will come extremely close to the Sun. If it survives the close approach to the Sun, the comet will be catapulted into the outer solar system. However, the chances of the comet surviving this approach are not very high.
Source: space.com
