COMET SWAN VISITS US FROM OUTER SPACE

 

"This comet promises to be visible to the naked eye, as long as conditions allow"

By: Marcos Tulio Hostos

Comet Swan is a celestial body that researchers say possibly originated from another star system and for reasons unknown until now, has come to our solar system after a long journey through interstellar space. This comet has an orbit with a high eccentricity and therefore its return to our solar system could take place in thousands or perhaps millions of years in the future.

Its discovery on March 25, 2020, is part of an ingenious kite detection technique. Between the SOHO solar observatory and a diligent amateur astronomer whose name is Michael Mattiazzo of Australian origin; who has a unique method of detecting comets (he has already discovered 8 comets with this method).

Michael Mattiazzo reviews images published online daily by ESA's SOHO solar observatory and NASA. SOHO is a solar observatory launched into space in 1995, which monitors our Sun star permanently; SOHO records solar activity at different wavelengths of the spectrum. The Australian astronomer specifically studies those produced by the instrument called SWAN (hence the name of the comet) dedicated to ESA's Solar Wind Anisotropies aboard the SOHO observatory in cooperation with NASA.

This instrument is dedicated to capturing images in ultraviolet light of the changes of the solar wind with its variable flow of charged particles that expels the Sun into space. This instrument has proven to be very effective in detecting comets due to its ability to capture the hydrogen and oxygen that are common elements in comets.

The nuclei of comets have large amounts of hydrogen in frozen form, which are released as water vapor when exposed to the action of solar wind particles. This is what allows the formation of a coma and usually the long tails of comets made up of ionized gases like dust particles.

In general, the cometary nuclei in our solar system come from two regions, the Oort cloud at a distance between 50,000 and 100,000 AU (Astronomical Units) from the Sun and the Kuiper belt located beyond the orbit of Neptune, a place where long-period comets originate but we also occasionally get visited by cometary bodies formed in other distant star systems.

The SOHO solar observatory has an impressive record of detection of comets, Comet Swan is number 3932 discovered by this probe, SOHO has normally discovered comets with its coronagraph which is an instrument to observe the solar corona using a metal disk that cover the bright part of the Sun; This allows us to see that area as hot as the solar corona is; it is among the crown that the presence of comets has been captured ..

The Swan Comet promises to be a very visually attractive comet for the inhabitants of our planet; This comet, possibly, if the calculations are fulfilled, has a large amount of matter that constitutes its nucleus, as the calculations so far demonstrate. It will be so bright that it will possibly be possible to observe it in the northern hemisphere with the naked eye by the end of May when its brightness is expected to increase.

All comets that visit us run the risk of disintegrating and disappearing or simply diminishing their nucleus. The action of the Sun's gravitational field on a cometary nucleus is an excessive test of wear due to the fragile material of its composition. On May 27 it will be the acid test of Comet Swan, since it will have its closest approach to the Sun (Perihelion 0.43 AU) receiving all its caloric power and gravitational disturbance.

If Comet Swan manages to survive this odyssey, lovers of celestial objects will be able to locate the comet in the vicinity of the star Capella of the constellation Auriga (El Cochero) in late May, this being the only opportunity to see this body. celestial before it is lost for thousands of years or perhaps much longer; its orbital parameters predict (they are not yet definitive) that its orbital eccentricity is hyperbolic.

Comets or cometary nuclei more appropriately; they have their origins in the formation of star systems. When a protostar forms in the Universe, a disk of matter made up of gases and solid material forms around the star. By accretion, bodies are formed that in the future will be both gaseous, telluric and rocky planets. When this formation is consolidated, the edge of the disk is fragmented into objects that contain the primordial matter of the formation of a stellar system, thus constituting the cometary nuclei; true capsules in time with valuable information on the composition of the original matter of our Solar System. The study of the material that makes comets are rich in information about the origin of the formation of our Solar System since its composition has remained intact for millions of years.

The opportunity to observe a comet during a person's life can be an extremely rare event for many human beings during the history of Humanity. There are people who have died of advanced age and unfortunately lived in periods when the arrival of comets in the vicinity of our Sun was very little or completely null. Observing those bright celestial bodies with a long tail that at different periods of human history appeared unexpectedly in the night skies, frightened many, I think confusion and stoked the trickery or possibly secured in power some ruler who knew how to take advantage of the effect of the vision of the comet in most of the community.

Today we must feel privileged to live in a period of time where in a relatively short time we have been able to enjoy several comets with their frozen bodies from distant interstellar regions and those that revolve around our Solar System. I hope we enjoy the short visit from Comet Swan, the lonely frozen traveler.

Credits

Royal Observatory

United space in Europe

Cienciaplus

Wikipedia