Home=Current Comets: 62P (2023/24)
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During the perihelion passage 2023/24 comet 62P/Tsuchinshan (P=6.17a) should become an object visible even in small instruments. It will pass perihelion on Dec. 25, 2023 at the distance of 1.26 AU and will be situated quite close to Earth during a long period (perigee at a distance of 0.50 AU will be reached on Jan. 30, 2024). The comet is expected to peak at 8.0-9.0 mag. It should remain brighter than 16 mag between October 2023 and April 2024. During this period it will move from the western part of the constellation Gemini to the northwestern part of the constellation Virgo. Thus the comet will be an object in the morning sky at first, getting an object visible during the whole night during winter 2023/24 and will eventually switch to the evening sky.
The comet became a rather well visible object in binoculars, if observed under a dark sky. Based on 201 observations from 43 observers the brightness parameters are
m0 = 4.3 mag / n = 20,yielding an extremely high activity parameter. Pre-perihelion the comet brightened 8 magnitudes in just 95 days! The maximum brightness of 8.0 mag was reached in the last days of December 2023. At the start of February it looks as if this activity parameter is maintained even post-perihelion. However, it would not be surprising if additional observations show that the activity post-perihelion decreases more slowly than it increased pre-perihelion.
Total Brightness and Coma DiameterThe coma diameter increased from 1' (55,000 km) at the end of September to the maximum of 11' (260,000 km) at the turn of 2023/24. At the beginning of February 2024 it measured 8' (175,000 km). The coma was rather diffuse. For most of the apparition the degree of condensation was constant at DC 3; DC 4 was only recorded during the four weeks around perihelion. CCD observers were able to detect a tail, steadily pointing towards West, between the end of November 2023 and the beginning of February 2024, with a maximum length of 0.5° (1 mio. km) around the time of perihelion.
Andreas Kammerer