In the aftermath of the great South American annular eclipse, autumn and winter of 2024 they promise to be crackling as regards the program of the astronomical eventsthanks above all to the passage to the Earth flyby comet C2023/A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS)dubbed the “comet of the century,” scheduled for October 12. It survived the close encounter with the Sun and will probably be visible to naked eye al sunset towards west from October 10th onwards. If we are lucky, soon after it will be the turn of another comet, C/2024 S1: if it survives the perihelion we could perhaps see it with the naked eye between October and November. Here is the calendar of astronomical events and celestial shows that the firmament will give us in the months of October, November and December 2024, which include, in addition to the comet, also meteor showers and planetary conjunctions.
Astronomical events autumn/winter 2024
The most anticipated event of 2024 is about to approach. There comet C2023/A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) has passed the perihelion, the point of its orbit closest to the Sun, unscathed and will reach its closest proximity to the Earth on Saturday October 12, 2024when he will be alone 70 million km from our planet. The comet was initially spotted only from the southern hemisphere and then at the end of September also in our area, about an hour before dawn. Given the angular proximity to the Sun and the light of dawn, the comet was only visible through binoculars or a photographic camera.
The situation should instead be very more favorable from October 10th onwards. Starting from that date, in fact, the comet will be visible shortly after sunset of the Sun, with a time spent in the sky that will gradually increase in the days following the maximum proximity to the Earth expected for October 12. The proximity to our planet and the brightness reached by the comet will make it very likely visible to the naked eye.
The end of October could bring us one pleasant surprisewith one second comet potentially visible to the naked eye. Let’s talk about the comet C/2024 S1 Atlasdiscovered only a few days ago, the September 27from one of the ATLAS project telescopes in Hawaii. This comet belongs to the class of Kreutz sungrazer, a type of “reckless” comets whose orbit is characterized by a grazing passage to the Sun. Their proximity to the Sun leads to two consequences: in many cases they they disintegrate completelyeven before reaching the minimum distance from our star, while in others they reach one such high brightness to become visible to the naked eye, as in the case of comet C/2011 W3 Lovejoy at Christmas 2011.
C/2024 S1 Atlas it is not currently visible to the naked eyebut only through telescopes with a considerable aperture, and predominantly from the southern hemisphere. The moment of closest proximity to Earth is expected on October 23while the perihelion The October 28. Should it survive the close encounter with the Sun, it could become visible to the naked eye at dawn between the end of October and the beginning of November.
Meteor showers
When we hear about meteor showers, our thoughts immediately go to the most famous ones, namely the Perseids, commonly referred to as the shooting stars of San Lorenzo. There are actually several meteor showers throughout the year, with the end of 2024 including meteor showers. Orionids, Leonids and Geminids.
The Orionidsnamed after the constellation of Orion, the celestial quadrant from which they appear to come, are a meteor shower that is active between 2 October and 7 November, with maximum activity around 20-23 October. The origin of the swarm is the same as that of the Eta Aquarids, i.e. the passage of the Earth in the debris left by the wake of Halley’s comet. The number of visible meteors per hour goes by 20 meteors in the Northern Hemisphere to 50 in the Southern Hemisphere.
The Leonidsfrom the name of the quadrant in the constellation of Leo, are instead generated by the debris of comet Tempel-Tuttle. They are visible around November 17, with a peak of activity around 20 meteors per hour. The Geminidsinstead, are a meteor shower generated by the debris of the asteroid 3200 Phaethon. Their activity is localized between December 3rd and 19th, with the peak between December 13th and 14th. The radiant of this swarm is located a few degrees north-west of Castor, the brightest star in the constellation Gemini. The Geminids are capable of generating swarms of approximately 120 meteors every hour.
Planetary oppositions and conjunctions
The end of 2024 is a great time to observe the gas giants of the Solar Systemespecially if you use binoculars or telescopes. Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune are in fact in opposition in this period of the year, that is, opposite along the celestial vault to the Sun. In particular, Saturn and Neptune went into opposition respectively on8 and 20 Septemberwhile Jupiter and its moon court will go into opposition December 7preceded by Uranus the November 17. Furthermore, Jupiter will reach the perigee on December 6th.
Saturn will put on a show with the Moon with a series of conjunctions (minimum angular distance between two celestial bodies) over the next few months. We leave on October 14 with the Moon (almost full) and Saturn in conjunction at a distance of just under one degree around the 8pm. Although interesting to the naked eye, it is with binoculars or a telescope that the event can be fully appreciated by framing the two objects in the same field of view.
Even more spectacular is the second conjunction of the Moon and Saturn ofNovember 11thwhich actually takes the form of one occultationthat is, passage of one celestial body in front of another. In particular, the Moon will occult Saturn around 3:45 in the morningwhen it will be possible to observe the Lord of the Rings hiding behind the lunar disk, a decidedly breathtaking sight for owners of good binoculars or telescopes. The last conjunction of the Moon and Saturn occurs onDecember 8but when it is already day in Italy, so it is not visible in our area.
The conjunctions don’t end there. The Moon will in fact be in conjunction with Mars The October 23 around 20when the two objects will be separated by about 4 degrees, the November 20th at 7pmwith a separation of just under 3 degrees, and the December 18thwhen there will be an occultation of Mars by the Moon which however will take place when it is daytime in Italy.
For Mercury, the dates to mark on the calendar are November 16th and December 25th. During these days, Mercury will be at maximum elongation, i.e. maximum angular distance from the Sun, generally around 20 degrees, a situation which will make it observable immediately after sunset or just before sunrise for a significant period of time.
Winter Solstice
We conclude the roundup of astronomical events at the end of 2024 by providing the exact date and time of winter solstice. It will happen at 10.20am on Saturday 21 Decembermarking the start of winter in the Northern Hemisphere. It represents the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere, with fewer hours of light and longer nights. At the solstice, the sun’s rays reach the minimum Earth inclination of the year, which instead is maximum in the southern hemisphere and equal to 90 degrees in the Tropic of Capricorn.
