Galicia was “blessed” with the passage of the “comet of the century”, the brightest in a hundred years

Galicia, land of stars: A new “gift” from heaven could be seen in parts of the community this evening, an impressive new phenomenon after this week the northern lights could be seen throughout the community.

About this Comet C/2023 A3 Tzuchinshan-ATLASknown as the “comet of the century” could be easily seen tonight as it passed its closest point to Earth and passed close to the Sun without breaking up. In particular, the comet could be clearly seen. around 20:00. heading west.

Those who happened to enjoy it know that it was the last time it visited our planet. This was about 80,000 years ago. during the time when Neanderthals inhabited the Earth. A unique phenomenon that will not happen again for thousands of years.

The comet, visible to the naked eye, left a trail of light across the sky. This is the brightest comet to pass Earth. over the last 100 years.

comet history

Popularly known as the “comet of the century”, it was discovered in 2023 by the Tzuchinshan Observatory in China. and validated by the ATLAS project in South Africa; He received this nickname because of the exceptional brilliance and rarity of his career.

Comet Tzuchinshan-ATLAS surprised astronomers and amateurs with its brilliant brightness. According to Javier Licandro, astronomer from the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (IAC), the comet is currently “much brighter than Mercury”one of the brightest planets in the night sky.

This characteristic is measured by stellar magnitude, a scale that determines the brightness of celestial objects. Images taken by the SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) satellite show that the comet has developed an impressive tail. The tail of the comet of the century reaches length equivalent to the diameter of 42 full moons, a spectacle that few astronomical phenomena can match.

Tzuchinshan-ATLAS has been compared to historical comets such as Hale-Bopp and Hyakutake, which in the 1990s made a deep impression on those who observed them. Comet Hale-Bopp in particular was so bright that it could be seen even during the day using telescopes.