Caoimhín's Content

Today we will be looking at a couple of comets and especially at two comets that aren’t going to come back.

To start we’re going to look at a comet that is going to come back. WIth comets, usually, they are something that comes back again and again. We’re going to look at one that is going to come back, comet 24P/Schaumasse. The “P” in 24P, that says to us that this comet is going to come back, that is the meaning of the P, that it is a comet that comes back again and again. This is a short-period comet that came through our part of the solar system, in 1911. This comet comes back around again and again, about every 8 years. We’re just about able to see this comet, at magnitude 8. That’s how bright this comet is, and 8, that isn’t very bright. Magnitude 8 isn’t as bright as most of the stars that we see, and I expect you won’t be able to see this comet with your naked eye. We’re looking at morning, 12:30, half-past midnight, with the comet very close to the star Arcturus. As usual for comets, every day the comet will be in a slightly different part of the sky, as this comet is orbiting the Sun, like the planets, and like how the Moon orbits the Earth. Every day the comet will be in a slightly different place compared to the stars, but with this comet, the comet will be back. If you aren’t able to find this comet this year, in 8 years and a little bit, the comet will be back, within our part of the solar system.

Sometimes, when a comet comes into the middle of the star system, they aren’t able to come back again. Usually comets come from a part of our solar system called the Oort cloud. There are a lot of little rocks out in the Oort cloud, and when I say little rocks, I do mean objects 10 or more kilometers across. The comet C/2024 E1 or Comet Wierzchos, this comet is not going to come back. We expect that this comet came from our solar system, this comet came from the outer side of our solar system, but still as a part of our solar system. The way in which this comet is coming in to the Sun, the Sun is going to throw it out of the solar system. Comet Wierzchos isn’t going to come back, if you don’t see this comet this year you aren’t going to see it ever again, the comet is going to fly out of our solar system. Even though it comes from our star system, still it is going to leave it. There is a chance, when this comet is flying through space, flying through our galaxy, flying through the Milky Way, that that comet will go into a different star system, one of the other star systems with another star that we can see in the sky, or even maybe a star system we can ‘t see in the sky.

At this moment, the comet is too close to the Sun for us, we won’t be able to see it, but if we go ahead to the month of February, we should be able to see it again. Just as the Sun is going down, the comet will still be above the ground, still visible, at almost the end of February. This is a non-periodic comet, the comet isn’t going to come back again, and this happens sometimes. However, even in late February, you can almost see a little bit of a tail from this comet. The comet is going away from the Sun and the comet is fairly far from the Sun, almost as far from the Sun as the Earth is at this moment, and for that reason, the tail isn’t going to be as big. It is the power of the Sun that sort of creates the tail out of the comet. This comet will be at magnitude 7, one magnitude brighter, than the comet that we were looking at, comet 24P/Schaumasse. With a magnitude of 7 on this comet, it will be a little easier to see, there’s a chance that you will be able to see it with your naked eye if you are in a very dark sky, out in the countryside, but it would be better if you use a binoculars or telescope. This is a comet that comes from our star system that is going to leave our solar system, and this isn’t something very strange, this happens, there are a lot of non-periodic comets, but they aren’t as famous. It is the periodical comets that come back again and again that get most attention. This comet is going to leave, and there is a chance that it will go into another solar system after millions or billions of years.

There is another comet that came from another place, a different solar system, that is after coming in to our solar system, comet 3I/ATLAS. This is a very famous comet at this time, very famous due to the fact that it is an interstellar object. This comet came from a different solar system, the same way that our comet, the comet C/2024 E1 Wierzchos, is going to do, to go from one star to another. It’s not an interstellar comet yet but it will be, this comet will be an interstellar comet that is coming from our solar system. Looking at 3I/ATLAS now, still in January, the magnitude is only 15, very hard to see, but due to the place that this comet came from, interstellar space, there were a lot of strange ideas about it. People thought it was a spaceship or something alien, related to life from the other stars, but nothing has happened. No weird things have some out of it, there isn’t any evidence that it is a spaceship. Carl Sagan once said, “Extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence”. If you think that something really strange is happening then you need to provide very strange evidence, the true facts of the situation must support your claim. I feel this is a tautology of some sort, true facts, as facts are true always, but you need to provide evidence to show that something unusual is happening if you think that something unusual is happening. There isn’t enough evidence saying that this rock, 18 kilometers across, it’s a big stone for sure, but still it is a comet. It is a piece of rock that was going around the Sun, the only strange thing is that this rock came from a different star system, but that is something that happens. If there is a rock flying through space, going close to the Sun, there’s a chance that the Sun is going to throw it out of the star system, and thats what happened to this comet in another solar system, just like what’s happening to the comet 2024 E1, flying out of our star system.

3I/ATLAS is the comet that everyone was talking about, there was a lot of talk and writing about this comet, and as almost everyone thought, the comet is flying through our star system and out the other side without anything strange happening. We can learn a little about other star systems, by looking a little bit closer at these interstellar rocks, it is something very interesting and inspirational, but still, if you are saying that this is a spaceship, you have to provide evidence that shows that it is a spaceship. If this is a spaceship, then this spaceship doesn’t have any interest in our solar system, because it isn’t doing anything other than travelling through it. That’s it, that’s a comet that is very hard to see but we are lucky that there are a couple of other comets that are a little bit easier to see. I’m going to go through the night again until Arcturus comes up again, as that is the place that the comet 24P/Schaumasse is currently, a comet that we can see and we will be able to see again within 8 years or so. If you want to look at the two other comets, comet 2024 and comet 3I, as it is an interstellar object, I for inter. I’m lucky that that works in Irish as well, the Irish for “inter” bieng “idir”, not everything does work like that in Irish. For example 24P, P for periodic, that doesn’t work for Irish “tréimhse”. All the same, those comets will be leaving, if you don’t look at them this year, you won’t get another chance.

That’s it, a little about the comets that are coming through our solar system or coming through our part of the solar system this month. I’m sure you enjoyed it and I’m hopeful that you will get a chance to look at these comets. If you enjoyed this piece then make sure you push the button that says you liked it and make sure that you subscribe to this website and my YouTube channel. If you are interested in astronomy in Irish then make sure you subscribe to my new YouTube channel, as this is the place that I am going to put up the Irish videos from now on. If you enjoyed this then make sure you subscribe and if you do then I’m sure I’ll see you back here again. Thanks a million for reading this piece.