A recently discovered comet should be visible early in the morning for the next few days if the British weather permits. And fortunately, the weather forecast suggests it should.
Comet Nishimura (officially Comet C/2023 P1) is named after the Japanese astrophotography Hideo Nishimura who was taking long-exposure photographs of the sky with a digital camera when he spotted the previously unknown comet. Since then its path has been plotted, and it’s now close enough to both the Sun and Earth to be visible without using a telescope.
Professor Brad Gibson, Director of the E.A. Milne Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Hull, said that the comet is already visible to the naked eye around the hour before dawn.
Although the practical difference is slight, the comet will be closest to Earth just before dawn on Tuesday 12th September — although the current weather prediction is for clouds over London on that day. Frankly, the difference in brightness will be too small to notice with the naked eye, so I’d recommend just trying to see it on any day up to then, as it should drop out of view from the 13th Sept.
Professor Gibson said, “On average people have the chance to see such a naked eye comet once a decade – this is a rare and exciting opportunity.”
Viewing Tips
The comet is best seen early in the morning when the Sun is still just below the horizon and the angle of the sunlight is just right to reflect off the comet. Yes, that means getting up early – the image below from Stellarium shows where the comet will be at 5am on Saturday morning.
(c) Stellarium
It’ll pop up above the horizon at around 4:45am, and rise upwards until the rising sun makes it harder to see from around 5:15am – so about 5am is likely to be best.
Try to find a high spot with a clear view of the eastern horizon and look for a bright “star” close to the horizon. If you can’t find a high spot, at least try to be above the street lights. While it will get brighter each day up to the 12th Sept, it will also be getting closer to the horizon, you’d probably be best to try for a look over the weekend before it becomes too difficult to see.
You’ll want to be at your preferred spot a bit before 5am, and look to the east-northeastern horizon. Once your eyes have adjusted to the light look for a bright star with a just about noticeable tail.
If you have binoculars or a telescope you’ll get a much better view, and might be able to notice a slight green tint to the comet head with a white tail streaming away from the Sun.
Good hunting!
Yep, this is a frustrating one, even for a comet, which are famously annoying at the best of times. If it were higher in the sky during genuine darkness, it would be a very cool thing. As it is, it’s always going to be too close to the sun to get a decent view, even later in the month when it becomes an evening object. Particularly tricky to see from the big town. Annoying.