A Comet Last Seen By The Ancient Egyptians Is Visible Over Arizona Right Now
Along with the Lyrid meteor shower visible for another week or so, a comet last seen by the ancient Egyptians is gracing the night sky right now. C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS), or Comet ATLAS, has an orbital period of about 5,000 years — and it’s coming to the end of a cycle right now.
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Comets are small, icy celestial bodies that get warmer and release gases when passing close to the Sun. Called outgassing, this process produces a visible atmosphere (which sometimes includes a tail), that can be visible to the naked eye if circumstances line up accordingly.
C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS), colloquially known as Comet ATLAS, was discovered by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System in late December of last year. It was the brightest comet of 2020 at one point, but has dimmed significantly since the observation was made.
With an orbital period of about 5,000 years, Comet ATLAS was last seen by the Ancient Egyptians. It will be visible from Earth until May 31 -- the date on which it reaches its nearest point to the Sun -- before leaving the planetary region and starting the cycle all over again.
This graphic shows the comet's trajectory with 7-day markers. Luckily, there will be a new moon on the date of its closest approach to earth (May 23), so the sky should be nice and dark!
If you're having trouble locating the comet, just look to the constellations. For the remainder of this month, it will be in Camelopardalis, which is shaped like a giraffe.
While Comet ATLAS won't be easy to spot with the naked eye, you don't need a super fancy telescope, either. A small set of binoculars should do the trick just fine.
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Katie Lawrence is a Southeast Texas native who graduated 18th in her high school class with a GPA of 4.25. She attended college in the Houston area and changed her major twice (psychology, computer science, and finally criminal justice) before taking a leap of faith and dropping out to pursue a career in freelance writing.
Today, Katie writes for the Texas and Arizona pages of OnlyInYourState.com and has never been more passionate about a job before. Outside of work, you can likely find her curled up on the sofa with a hot cup of coffee, watching a crime TV show or scary movie.
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