Photo by: Petr Horálek.
When people think of a comet, they usually picture an object with a bright head and a long hazy tail sweeping across much of the sky. Unfortunately, there aren’t many comets that are such prominent in the sky, and even those who know about the night sky a lot, mostly must look for a nebulous spot against a starry background when searching for a comet. In short, it is not easy to find a comet in the sky.
Photo by: Petr Horálek.
A comet is an object that is created by the evaporation of an ice-dust core on its journey near our Sun. As the solar wind blows on the cometary core, its surface heats up, volatile substances escape as well as small dust particles. It is this process that gives comets their characteristic appearance. The more heat and charged particles characteristic of the solar wind flow to the cometary nucleus, the more prominent the comet’s head, the so-called coma. The tail is then formed by the blowing of part of the cometary material in the direction away from the nucleus and away from the Sun. It usually consists of two components – ion and dust. The ion tail is made up of bluish-glowing gas blown in exactly the opposite direction from the Sun, while the dust scatters the sunlight and it is slightly curved towards our star, as the dust is partially attracted by the Sun’s gravity.
Comets are said to be like cats – completely unpredictable. And it’s not far from the truth. Cometary nuclei usually reach the Sun along very long paths from the distant edge of the Solar System, often from the zone we call the Oort Cloud. When astronomers discover a comet, it is usually already on its way to the Sun, and scientists can only estimate its destiny based on its movement across the Solar System and the development of its brightness. And, of course, whether it will be visible only in binoculars, or if it will brighten enough to be seen with the naked eye. Once a comet is discovered and included in the list of already known comets, we too can easily find out where to look for and how it will move in the sky against the starry background, using various applications. One of the most popular is Stellarium – you can download it at www.stellarium.org.
Photo by: Petr Horálek.
Comets usually reach their maximum brightness during periods when they are closest to the Sun. Unfortunately, at that time they are angularly close to our star in the sky and can thus only be found low above the horizon at dusk or at dawn. And that’s exactly why the Maldives is a great place for viewing comets – from the equator, the best view of the Sun’s surroundings is offered right after it sets or before it rises. Dusks and dawns are short, and comets are best found low over an undisturbed ocean horizon. So, as soon as astronomers announce the discovery of a new comet and promise its good visibility in the morning or evening sky, it pays to be in the Maldives.
In past years, quite a few nice comets could be observed from the Maldives. Some were so-called periodic; they were known from the past and their return was predicted. These included, for example, Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, which was especially nice in March 2024 in the evening sky. But there were also completely new ones that spiced up the already beautiful night sky on the Maldivian islands. In February 2023, C/2022 E3 (ZTF) appeared, which appeared high overhead in the constellation Taurus (the Bull) in the equatorial sky and could already be seen with small telescopes. A half-year later, the comet C/2023 P1 (Nishimura) was a nice surprise for the dawn sky of mid-September 2023.
Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) in surrounded by star clusters and planet Mars in the Bull constellation on 11 February 2023, taken from Soneva Jani, Maldives.
Photo by: Petr Horálek.
From all of them, the comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS), discovered in January 2023, was clearly the most beautiful show in recent years in the Maldivian sky. It first appeared in the September sky in 2024 low on the morning eastern horizon, then flew close to the Sun in the broad daylight and in October, it began to appear in the evening sky after sunset. This period brought unprecedented sights to all visitors to the Maldives. The comet was so bright that it could be seen even at dusk and in bright moonlight. In the later days of October, when the Moon was no longer disturbing, the comet showed a tail so long that even the whole palm of an outstretched hand would not cover it completely. All you had to do was step onto the beach facing the west, wait until dark and enjoy the comet’s tail pointing upward high above the horizon of the Indian Ocean or distant palm trees. As it moved away from the Earth and from the Sun, it became fainter every day, and around the beginning of November 2024 it was no longer visible to the naked eye. It was visible through middle-sized telescopes or at the observatories of Soneva Fushi and Soneva Jani islands until December 2024.
Photo by: Petr Horálek.
Several views of the comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) taken within last day of October 2024 from Soneva Fushi island.
Photo by: Petr Horálek.
Photo by: Petr Horálek.
Of what was mentioned before, the comets can be generally very well observable from Maldives with location of the islands by the equator. And if you want to fully enjoy the brighter comets, with or even without a small telescope, you need to find a place far from sources of light pollution, caused by i.e. halogen lamps, glowing ships and illuminated resorts, ports or cities. The best view is on a beach in the shade of any artificial lights. Unfortunately, not all Maldivian islands are doing so well, on many of them they use light where it is not needed (lights shine with great intensity up into the sky, bright ball lights are often used instead of directional lights that would only shine down to the ground). One of the islands where you can still see the beauty of the night sky is, for example, Thoddoo, especially its southeastern part. If the Maldivian government and the owners of the accommodation centers would come up with a plan to effectively reduce light pollution by installing the right and nature-friendly lamps (which is very well described by International Dark Sky Association), it would also become a truly worldly unique paradise for enjoying the gems of the night sky!
Photo by: Petr Horálek.
Something about the author and photographer of this post
PETR HORÁLEK was born in 1986 in Pardubice, Czech Republic. He studied Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics at Masaryk University Brno (graduated in 2011) and Theoretical Physics in Silesian University of Opava (graduated in 2022). He worked briefly as an observer of fireballs at the Department for Interplanetary Matter of the Astronomical Institute of Academy of Sciences of Czech Republic, now he is astrophotographer and popularizer of astronomy, awarded also by NASA. From 2011, he fell in love with astrophotography and decided to take a year-long trip around the world to improve his skills in that field. As citizen of a light-polluted Czech Republic, he travels the world for naturally dark places in show people in polluted cities what are they missing (not only) above their heads. A long route through the Canary Islands, Australia, New Zealand, the Cook Islands and South Africa brought him in the end into the heart of the Atacama Desert at ESO’s La Silla and Paranal Observatory in 2015 (when he became the ESO Photo Ambassador), later in NOIRLab observatories (as NOIRLab Photo Envoy) and, of course, the Maldivian Islands in 2019. Petr specialises in photographing rare night-sky phenomena. His images capture unique moments, which he calls “pearls of astronomy”, that add to the immeasurable beauty of a dark starry sky. Something, he thinks that everyone should see at some point in their lives.
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