Comet C/2020 M3 (Atlas) drawing nearer, in a great place to spot Wednesday night (earthsky.org)
Posted by Eddie Irizarry in Space | November 11, 2020
A comet discovered this past summer is currently approaching Earth’s vicinity. Comet C/2020 M3 (Atlas) won’t become bright enough to see with the unaided eye, but binoculars can pick it up. We’ve seen some good images via long-exposure photography, even with just zoom lenses. The ATLAS telescope system – two telescopes being developed by University of Hawaii as an asteroid or comet impact early warning system – was the first to spot Comet C/2020 M3 (Atlas) on June 27, 2020. The comet reached its perihelion, or closest approach to the sun, on October 25. Now the comet is heading for its closest approach to Earth, which will be on Saturday, November 14, 2020.
Comet C/2020 M3 (Atlas) will pass at a very safe 33,313,846 million miles (53,613,439 km) distance, or between the orbits of Mars and Earth.
The first tweet below – from Michael Jaegar (@Komet123Jager on Twitter) on November 7 – provides an exquisite view of Comet C/2020 M3 (Atlas), at right. From our earthly perspective, the comet is passing this week not far from the great Orion Nebula (M42), seen in Jaegar’s first image below at lower left. The Running Man Nebula is also visible on top of the Great Orion Nebula on this long exposure image.
Currently at a visual magnitude between 7.8 and 8.0, Comet C/2020 M3 (Atlas) is visible with binoculars from dark skies. Please note that the views of this comet are in no way as good as those offered by Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE), which provided a grand spectacle this past summer.
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more, including pix: https://earthsky.org/space/comet-c-2020-m3-atlas-closest-to-earth-nov-14-2020?