The Universe is like a never-ending candy store filled with all kinds of heavenly delights, and one of the most abundant treats is comets. They’re like the jelly beans of the cosmos, popping up unexpectedly and keeping astronomers on their toes. It’s like playing a game of “Where’s Waldo?” but with comets instead, always keeping you on edge and excited for what’s next. And the names are out of this world, like a lineup of sci-fi rock stars.
The recently discovered comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) is making its first close approach around the sun in 80,000 years, and it’s causing quite a stir in the astronomy community. With sightings from around the world and expected to appear as bright as a star in the night sky by the fall of 2024, as Livescience.com reveals, this cosmic object is a sight to behold.
Prepare for October 2024!
Located between Saturn and Jupiter, the comet is traveling at an astounding 180,610 mph (290,664 km/h), and its closest approach to Earth is expected on October 13, 2024. With its closest approach to the sun expected on September 28, 2024, just a few weeks before its closest approach to Earth, there’s never been a more exciting time to explore the Universe and keep an eye out for the next cosmic candy comet.
If the Solar System were a pizza, it would be one mighty large pizza pie! You see, the Solar System consists of our Sun, eight (formerly nine) planets, dwarf planets, moons, asteroids, and other space stuff, all swirling around in a vast cosmic dance.
To give you an idea of just how big this pizza pie is, let’s take a look at some numbers. The distance from the Sun to Pluto (which, again, used to be a planet) is a mind-boggling 5.9 billion kilometers. That’s like driving around the entire Earth’s equator over 144,000 times! And even then, you’d still be nowhere close to the edge of our celestial pie.
Tommy’s hobby has always been playing video games. He enjoys competing in video games tournaments and writing about his experience. It’s not a big surprise that he mostly covers the latest trends from the gaming industry.