When and where to see it on Monday with “Shooting Stars”

Comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas is now past its best, having gone from being a bright object visible with the naked eye in the post-sunset sky to a deep-sky object visible in true darkness.

Can you see Comet Tuchinshan-ATLAS (also known as C/2023 A3 and Comet A3) with the naked eye tonight? Maybe not. It's not as bright as it used to be, so you'll need binoculars and patience to see it, especially from urban areas with light-polluted skies. But you might be able to photograph it.

“Around October 20, the window of true darkness begins to open between twilight and moonrise if you are away from the glare of city lights,” he says. Sky and telescope. “But by then, the comet, now high in the sky, will have begun to fade and shrink. The distance will diminish in the following days, becoming invisible to the naked eye later in the month even under ideal dark sky conditions.”

ForbesYour ultimate guide to seeing the comet every night this week — before it fadesby Jimmy Carter

Tonight, Monday, October 21, you should find a dark location using a file Light pollution map Or visit a Dark sky place -And for two reasons. In addition to the comet being a bright object in a pair of binoculars, the Orionids meteor shower is at its peak.

The best time to see meteors is after midnight – in the early hours of Tuesday, October 22 – although any time after dark is fine. However, the source constellation, Orion, will rise around midnight in the southeast. You may see about 20 meteors per hour.

Note: Times and viewing instructions are for observers at mid-latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere. Check the exact time for Sunset where you are and comet preparation times Stellarium Web For accurate times for your exact location.

How to locate Comet Tsuchenshan-Atlas: Monday, October 21

Location: West, 47 degrees from the sun in Ophiuchus

Time: after 45 minutes Sunset where you are

Size: +2.2

Comet's distance from the Sun: 68 million miles (109.5 million km)

Comet's distance from Earth: 59.7 million miles (96 million km)

This evening, the comet will be visible high above the western horizon about 45 minutes after sunset, and will set in a little less than three hours. This means it will be in the sky for 10 minutes longer than on Sunday.

This means that the comet will be high in the sky and will remain so as twilight turns into astronomical darkness. Look for the bright planet Venus and the bright star Arcturus; The comet will be high above them as the third point in a wide triangle. Scan with binoculars until you find it.

Why does Comet Tsuchenshan-Atlas have a curved tail?

The tail of a comet is usually slightly curved Coriolis effectwhich affects large-scale weather patterns, but can be seen in everyday events, such as making water jets from a rotating sprinkler appear curved. “The comet orbits around the sun, so the direction that sunlight hits the dust is just like the direction of a sprinkler nozzle,” said astronomer Dr. Qicheng Zhang. Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, which was monitoring the comet, said in an email.

“We're actually seeing the curved edge of the tail of this comet, so it would look like part of the tail is located above the comet's head, but then the tail curls down past the comet's head, making it look like another part of the tail is located below the comet's head,” Zhang said. “If it had two tails pointing in opposite directions.”

Check my feed Every day this week and next to get a daily “Comet Tracker” with celestial charts and comet viewing tips.

I wish you clear skies and wide eyes.