Comet Nishimura passes Earth for the first time in 400 years

Space enthusiasts living in the Northern Hemisphere can consider themselves lucky. The comet now passing through our cosmic neighborhood is a rare guest. It hasn’t been here for more than 400 years, and it will still be here in 400 until the next time, according to reports AP.

Comet C/2023 P1 Nishimura, as the newly discovered comet is called, has a size of one kilometer and will pass at a distance of 125 million kilometers from Earth. It may seem like a great distance, and it is, but it can be seen from Earth – albeit faintly.

If you want to catch a glimpse of the comet, you have to wake up early and look toward the northeastern horizon, about an hour to an hour and a half before dawn. There, about ten degrees above the horizon, near the constellation Leo, you can see the comet. It will get brighter as it gets closer to the sun, but it will also get lower, which could make it harder to see, the Associated Press wrote.

You really need good binoculars to see them, and you need to know where to look, NASA’s Paul Chodas tells the news agency.

The comet will be closest to the sun around September 17, before it leaves the solar system. According to Italian astronomer Gianluca Massi, next week is the last opportunity to see the comet from the northern hemisphere.

– The comet looks great now, with a very long and organized tail, and it is interesting to see it through a telescope, he says.

The comet was discovered by a Japanese amateur astronomer in mid-August, and now bears its name: Nishimura.

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