Once in 400 years chance to see newly discovered comet

Comet Nishimura in the night sky

The ball of rock and ice is named after Japanese amateur astronomer Hideo Nishimura, who discovered the comet on August 11.

Up to now, experts have not determined the size of the comet.

AFP quoted astrophysicist Nicolas Biver of the Paris Observatory (France) as saying that it is extremely rare for a comet to be visible to the naked eye within a few weeks of being discovered.

"Most comets only become visible months, or even years, before they pass their closest point to the sun," said Biver.

The French astrophysicist said that Nishimura's comet only passes the sun once every 437 years. Most of the time, the comet is just hanging around the outer reaches of the solar system. This means that humans have a once-in-437-year opportunity to observe the comet with the naked eye.

As comets approach the sun from distant space, heat from the central star causes their icy cores to melt and turn into gas and dust, creating the characteristic long tail.

Sunlight reflected from the tail allows humans to observe the comet from Earth.

Comet Nishimura, scientifically known as C/2023 P1, will reach its closest point to the sun on September 17. At that time, it will be about 33 million kilometers from the sun, less than a quarter of the distance from the sun to Earth.

Next, the comet will pass by Earth at its closest distance of 125 million km.

For stargazers in the Northern Hemisphere, the comet will be most visible over the weekend of September 9-10.

"The best viewing time is before dawn, northeast to the left of Venus in clear, unpolluted skies," said Biver.

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