During this period, the comet moves slowly in our sky through the constellations of Andromeda, Pisces and Aries, experts from the Institute of Physics of the University of Silesia in Opava and the Czech Astronomical Society point out.
- We already reported last year that comet 12P/Pons-Brooks is approaching us again after seven decades. And that it is a so-called cryovolcanic body – simply put, a “cold volcano”.
- Cryovolcanism itself is a special type of volcanic activity, during which cold matter erupts onto the surface of the body.
As we reminded you in February this year, comet 12P/Pons-Brooks is also known for its frequent explosions (so-called outbursts) due to violent cryovolcanic activity in its approximately 17 kilometer large nucleus.
“Outbursts” are accompanied by sudden brightenings, which could cause it to brighten even more in the coming weeks and be visible to the naked eye, perhaps more than dimly.
Take your binoculars and look for the exploding comet. The best spectacle is within sight
A new comet explosion
During its current return to the Sun, the comet went through several explosions, on July 20, 2023 (it brightened practically 100 times, from the 17th to the 11th magnitude), on October 5, 2023 (it brightened 40 times, from the 15th magnitude to the 11th magnitude), then November 1 and 14, 2023, December 14, 2023, January 18, 2024, and most recently, February 29, 2024.
The last day of February brightened twice as much, and her head increased its brightness below the threshold of visibility with the naked eye.
“During the strongest brightening of the current return on July 20, 2023, about 10 billion kilograms of icy dust material was probably ejected into the vicinity of the comet’s nucleus, which for a time created the appearance of a comet resembling a horseshoe or the popular fictional spaceship Millennium Falcon from the Star Wars series,” noted the astronomy popularizer and photographer Petr Horálek from the Opava Institute of Physics.
Photo: Juan Lacruz
The strange-looking head of Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks after the explosion on July 20, 2023
That’s why it was also called the “comet with horns” or the “devil’s comet” last summer. But it doesn’t look like that at the moment.
Best viewing conditions
At present, the comet has a brightness of about 6 magnitudes and is gradually brightening. In the course of the next weeks, it should reach up to 4.5 magnitude (the smaller this value, the greater the brightness). A brightness of 5-6 magnitudes is usually stated as the limit of visibility with the naked eye.
Photo: Petr Horálek/FÚ in Opava/Stellarium
Map of the path of comet 12P/Pons-Brooks from February 22 to April 17
Before it disappears into the evening sky in the glow of twilight in the second half of April this year, it could be visible to the naked eye as a faint hazy speck outside cities in the dark sky low on the western horizon – but you’ll need a map to find it. If she were to undergo another episode of sudden brightening, the chances of seeing her would be even easier.
The comet is now moving through the constellation of Andromeda, where it will travel until March 14. It is during this period that it is easily visible in the evening sky. Between March 15 and 26, the comet will pass through the northeastern tip of the constellation Pisces, and by then it could already be visible to the naked eye as a faint, hazy speck – in the moonless sky far from cities.
For example, its pass under the galaxies M31 in Andromeda (March 8) and M33 in the Triangle (March 22; unfortunately by moonlight) will be very photogenic.
From March 27 to April 19, it will fly through the constellation Aries.
The most photogenic spectacle is scheduled to take place on April 10, when the comet will pass angularly close to the young Moon and the planets Jupiter and Uranus in the evening. Photo: Petr Horálek/FÚ in Opava/Stellarium
Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, Moon, Jupiter, and Uranus Clustering April 10, 2024
The comet will pass perihelion, i.e. the closest point to the Sun in its orbit, on April 21 at a distance of 0.781 AU (approx. 116.8 million km) from the Sun and will approach Earth on June 2, when it will be 1.55 AU away from Earth (232 million km).
“However, at that time we will no longer be able to observe the comet from our territory: from around April 18, the comet will be too low above the western horizon to be easily detected, and then it will move to the southern hemisphere,” pointed out Pavel Suchan from the Czech Astronomical Society .
Astronomer Kohoutek, the discoverer of Kohoutek’s comet, has died
The best conditions for observing Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks will therefore be in the next month and a half.
Discovery of comet 12P/Pons-Brooks
Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks was discovered on July 12, 1812 by the French astronomer Jean-Louis Pons (1761–1831). Independently of this, the comet was later found by other astronomers and a month after its discovery, on August 13, 1812, it was already observable with the naked eye. By the end of August, a two degree long tail was reported for that flow. Shortly after its discovery, it was discovered that the comet is periodic.
The German astronomer Johann Franz Encke (1791–1865), also the discoverer of comets, determined the definitive orbit of a comet with a period of 70.68 years. He thus predicted the return of the comet in 1883–84.
Photo: Gerald Rhemann/www.astrostudio.at
Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks on February 2, 2024
The comet bears the second name in its name after the British astronomer William Robert Brooks (1844–1921), who rediscovered it on September 2, 1883, and identified it as the comet discovered by Pons in 1812.
That year, the comet went through a very significant explosion and brightened in leaps and bounds on the nights of the 21st-23rd. September 1883 up to fifteen times (from 11th magnitude to 8th magnitude).
It has also been shown in retrospect that the comet was probably observed by Chinese astronomers between 1385 and 1457, and possibly between 1313 and 1668, or even in September 245 AD – but this has not been definitively confirmed.
The comet is a very nice object even for amateur photographers. “To photograph a comet, you need a place with an unobstructed view from the west to the northwest and a dark sky outside the cities,” advises Horálek.
Meteorites fell on the territory of Germany. Czech astronomers helped to find them
It is so significant that the title of Czech astrophotography of the month for February 2024 was awarded to the image “Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks in the Cygnus constellation” by astrophotographer Jan Beránek. He captured her on January 18 from Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Photo: Jan Beránek
Czech astrophotography of the moon: Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks in the constellation Cygnus. (Erazim Kohák’s observatory shown at the bottom right is the mobile private observatory of the author of the picture.)
The winning images for the past months can be found at website.
Meteors, Comets and Lunar Eclipses at Super Full Moon. A selection of astronomical events in 2024
2024-03-05 16:09:00
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