A bright comet, which last approached the Earth 160 thousand years ago, was spotted over Ukraine. Photo
Yesterday, on January 14, a bright comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) was seen over Ukraine. The last time it approached the Earth was 160 thousand years ago.
Eyewitnesses managed to capture the tailed guest 5 minutes after sunset, the "Universe in a Pocket" telegram channel reports. According to astronomers, this comet can still be seen in the evening sky for two days.
Photo of the comet taken with a phone through a telescope.
Source: t.me/universeinthepocket
"Given the still quite bright sky, the comet was quite bright, and even the tail was quite clearly visible. But this is a really difficult object, as it is literally 5.5 degrees from the Sun," the post says.
A bright comet was also seen over Kuyalnyk, Odesa region, according to the "Odesa as It Is" telegram channel.
Comet ATLAS was also seen over the Odesa region.
Source: t.me/odessapublic2
The researchers claim that these are the first observations of C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) in Ukraine. However, it can still be seen in the Ukrainian sky today and tomorrow, with cloudless weather.
Therefore, if there is a site with an open southwestern horizon nearby, you can try to catch this brightest comet of 2025, experts advise.
According to scientists, ATLAS became significantly brighter after passing perihelion (the closest point to the Sun). After all, the comet was 0.0935 AU away from the hot star, which is why its nucleus could have become extremely hot. Therefore, most astronomers classify it as a near-solar comet, Universe writes.
The comet is still moving in the field of view of the SOHO space coronagraph.
Source: t.me/universeinthepocket
Astronomers note that at first, it was extremely difficult to observe this comet, as the "tail" was a few degrees from the Sun. But on January 11, C/2024 G3 came into view of the SOHO space solar coronagraph. Therefore, in the images of the wide-angle LASCO C3 instrument, the Sun is covered with a special hood in the center of the frame to see the area of the solar corona and around it, where the comet dived.
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