Comet Watch: A newly discovered comet is quickly brightening in early morning skies. Named C/2023P (Nishimura). It was discovered by a Japanese backyard astronomer last week and is heading towards the inner solar system, rounding the Sun mid-September. It is currently traveling through the constellation Gemini, visible at dawn in the east and is shining at 10.9 magnitude, making It visible in telescopes 4 inches and bigger.
It is thought to be a long period comet from the Oort Cloud (beyond Pluto) and may be making its very first visit to the Sun. Hopes are that it will continue to get brighter in the coming weeks, perhaps getting as bright as Magnitude 4 or even Magnitude 2, at which point it would be visible to the naked-eye (of course it may very well break up or just fizzle out before then – we just have to cross our fingers and wait and see.) I’ve included a sky chart and orbital view of the comet’s current position.
Stay tuned for more details.
