A new comet, C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS), is expected to be visible to the naked eye this week, offering a rare opportunity to witness a celestial spectacle. The comet will be brightest on September 27th and visible in the pre-dawn sky for several mornings, potentially reaching the brightness of the top 20 stars. Though comets can be unpredictable, this celestial event is a must-see for stargazers.
A newly discovered comet, C/2023 A3, could be headed for a dramatic demise before it even reaches its closest point to the sun. Astronomer Zdenek Sekanina argues in a new study that the comet is already fragmenting and may disintegrate completely before its potential flyby of Earth in October. However, other experts remain skeptical about the comet’s fate.
Based on previously unpublished photos, a new study suggests that Mars’ moon Phobos may actually be a comet, or at least part of one, that was gravitationally captured by the Red Planet long ago. While some have theorized that the moons are former asteroids lured in by Mars’ gravity, others have suggested that a giant impact, like that which created our moon, gouged the duo out of the Red Planet. However, neither hypothesis has been able to fully explain the moon’s unique characteristics. The new study, which analyzed high-resolution images of Phobos taken by the European Space Agency’s Mars Express orbiter, found that the moon’s surface is porous, like sand, and exhibits an opposition surge, which is characteristic of many airless objects, including comets. The researchers concluded that Phobos’s photometric properties matched Comet 67P’s almost perfectly, suggesting that Phobos was possibly a comet captured by Mars. The study’s findings have implications for Deimos, too, as the team suggests the two moons may have once been joined together as a single bilobed comet that was trapped and eventually torn apart by Mars’ gravity.
