Brightest comet of the year? – C/2024 G3 now visible after sunset

On Monday evening, the brightest comet of the year could briefly be visible in the evening sky here in Germany. This has been determined by the astronomy association Vereinigung der Sternenfreunde and explains that the celestial body could even be brighter than Venus in places. However, this applies more to the southern hemisphere, because the comet with the name C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) only appears very close to the sun in our latitudes. However, because it will reach the closest point to the sun on its orbit today, Monday, the chances are best now. If it survives the approach, it will become fainter in the coming days, but will at least move a little higher in the evening sky in the constellation of Capricorn.

Probably no sightings yet

The comet was discovered with a telescope in Chile and it was initially unclear whether it would survive its flyby of the sun. However, this is now considered fairly certain, the only question is how bright it will be. This is difficult to predict because it is unclear exactly how the comet will behave around the sun. Starfriends, for example, say that it could even outshine Venus in terms of brightness. However, no sightings have yet been reported in the associated forum. The situation is different further south, however; the tail star has already been photographed on Crete at the weekend.

The last comet to be seen in the night sky over Germanywas Tsuchinshan-Atlas in October. Comets are small celestial bodies that move in an elliptical orbit around the sun and consist mainly of ice, dust and rock. This is why they are sometimes called "dirty snowballs". They form in the cold outer regions of the solar system. The heat from the sun causes some of the ice to vaporize as they pass by. The resulting haze of sunlit dust and fluorescent gas forms the visible comet's head and tail, which can be many millions of kilometers long.

(mho)