According to RCO News Agency, quoted by Independent, the comet “Tsuchinshan-ATLAS” (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) or A3 became visible to astronomy fans at the end of September this year, and it is possible to observe it sometimes with the naked eye.
The mentioned comet, which was discovered in 2023, and each orbit around the sun takes 80,660 years. The last time this star passed by Earth was 80,000 years ago, when Neanderthals were alive.
On October 12 of this year, the Atlas spacecraft reached the minimum distance to the Earth and passed 70 million kilometers from Earth.
Some astronomers have called it the comet of the century because of its bright and transparent appearance. In the image captured by the Austrian photographer Michael Jaeger of this star, not only its bright trail, but also a fainter structure in the opposite direction called “anti-tail” can also be seen.
The star’s trail is dust and ions that are formed as a result of the collision of the solar wind with the space rock. The rock’s dust trail reflects sunlight, and at the same time its gaseous components are ionized, giving off a subtle glow that darkens as the ions cool.
But A3 seems to have an antidome that defies the laws of physics. NASA also mentioned this last year.
This rare phenomenon is caused by the movement of the earth in the orbit of the comet. As the Earth orbits this star around the Sun, the cooled dust and ions glow again as a result of the Sun’s light. In this way, said material appears to be moving in the opposite direction to the actual tail of the star.
NASA says about this: Antideme does not push the comet forward.
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