Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Leo (Leo)  ·  Contains:  Solar system body or event
comet 62P/Tsuchinshan on 9th January 2024, Jan Beránek
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comet 62P/Tsuchinshan on 9th January 2024

comet 62P/Tsuchinshan on 9th January 2024, Jan Beránek
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comet 62P/Tsuchinshan on 9th January 2024

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Description

The 62P/Tsuchinshan 1 comet, as photographed on 9th January 2024 between 02:09 do 03:24 UCT.
On its journey on the sky, it is passing a number of galaxies: most notably NGC 3968 (visible with its tiny spiral arms below the comet), but also a number of smaller galaxies are around in the field.
This is a periodic comet, meaning it is regularly coming close to the Sun on its orbit - it does so every 6.2 years.
During this current approach, it was nearest to Sun on 25th December 2023, so now is already drifting away again. But it is still approaching Earth, which it will be closest to on 29th January 2024 - so this these days is the best moment to observe it, as it’s at its brightest.
When the comet gets closer to Sun, the increasing temperature melts its frozen surface and releases dust and gas, which then form a tail. The tail is usually heading away the Sun, being pushed in that direction by the solar wind.
The greenish tint of the comet's head and tail is a result of its chemical composition: the green glow comes from diatomic carbon (C2) that gets ionized by the solar wind.
Here annotation of the field, with some of the galaxies:

Screenshot 2024-01-16 at 11.44.13.png

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comet 62P/Tsuchinshan on 9th January 2024, Jan Beránek

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