Today Comet Nishimura flies past the sun. The last time this comet visited the inner solar system, our ancestors fought in the Eighty Years’ War. In the summer of 1588 – the last time Nishimura flew past the sun – the Spanish Armada defeated by Dutch and English attackers.
The comet was discovered on August 12, 2023 by Japanese amateur astronomer Hideo Nishimura. At that time, the distance to the comet was about 150 million kilometers. Today – more than a month later – the comet reaches the point of its orbit closest to the sun. Astronomers call this the perihelion. The distance to the sun is now only 35 million kilometers.
The space photo of the week is a beautiful photo of the comet Nishimura, taken by astrophotographer Kenneth LeRose. He spotted the comet from the American state of Washington. The comet can be seen just above the mountainous horizon. The nucleus of the comet looks very green and it is also noticeable that the tail has an enormous length. Also this picture by Eliot Herman is highly recommended. Here you can see that eruptions on the sun and solar wind clearly influence the tail of Nishimura, causing all kinds of waves to be visible.
The space photo of the week of Comet Nishimura above the horizon. © Kenneth Lerose
Astronomers think that the comet Nishimura is responsible for a weak meteor shower, namely the Sigma Hydriden. Normally, around December 12, three additional shooting stars are visible per hour. More meteors may be seen this year, as the comet recently passed. The comet left behind many new dust particles, which will collide with Earth in December. The bad news for us is that the shooting stars appear to be coming from the southern constellation Water Snake and this constellation cannot be seen in December. So you have to travel to the southern hemisphere to experience the meteor shower. On the other hand: we can enjoy the Geminids during this period (and perhaps we will still spot a stray Sigma Hydride burning up in the atmosphere).
In the coming decades, Nishimura will travel towards the Kuiper Belt again. This doughnut-shaped region is home to thousands of icy celestial bodies, from dwarf planets to comets. In the year 2227 the distance to the sun is greatest, namely 110 times a single journey from the sun to the earth. This amounts to 16.5 billion kilometers. In comparison, Pluto’s distance from the Sun varies between 4.5 and 7.4 billion kilometers. Nishimura will then crawl towards the sun again to arrive at its parent star in September 2430.
2023-09-17 14:39:36
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