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During the second week of January, a new celestial object may illuminate the skies as comet ATLAS (C/2024) G3 approaches the sun.
Following comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) in October, comet G3 is set to attain perihelion — its nearest point to the sun — on January 13, 2025. On this date, this frigid visitor to the inner solar system will come within a mere 8.3 million miles (13.5 million kilometers) of the sun.
For perspective, Mercury orbits the sun at a distance as close as 29 million miles (47 million kilometers). January 13 will also witness comet G3 at its closest point to Earth, rendering it at its most brilliant as viewed from our planet.
While comet C/2024 G3 has the potential to be the most luminous comet of 2025, it is mainly expected to be a naked-eye object for those in the Southern Hemisphere. As per The Planetary Society, comet G3 might shine at a magnitude of -4.5, approximately equivalent to the brightness of Venus in January 2025. It will reside in the constellation Sagittarius.
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Nonetheless, the comet’s exceptionally close pass by the sun raises concerns about its viability. Fortunately, its orbital trajectory indicates that it last visited the inner solar system roughly 160,000 years ago, suggesting that it may have survived a close encounter previously. “It will undergo significant heating and may not endure,” stated Nick James, director of the British Astronomical Association‘s comet section. “However, if it does make it, it could be a spectacular sight in the evening sky from the southern hemisphere post-perihelion.”
If it survives its perihelion, comet G3 will likely shine as brightly as Venus in the western sky following sunset after January 13 from the Southern Hemisphere. However, James cautioned that the comet’s proximity to the sun poses potential risks for viewing and that it “should only be pursued by seasoned observers.”
Additionally, moonlight will cause some interference around the time of comet G3’s perihelion. A bright moon will appear in the eastern sky on several evenings leading up to January’s full “Wolf Moon,” which on January 13 will rise in opposition to the comet on the eastern horizon. This may complicate observations slightly; however, with the moon rising approximately 50 minutes later each night after the full moon phase, conditions will improve swiftly for viewing after sunset.
Identified on April 5, 2024, by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) of telescopes, G3 originates from the Oort Cloud, a sphere of comets encircling the entire solar system.
Originally published on Space.com.
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