Spot 144P/Kushida with binoculars as the comet makes its seven-yearly visit.
Comet 144P/Kushida is well placed for Northern Hemisphere viewing in January 2024, with the best time to see it being 1–18 and 28 January into early February
The comet will pass along a track from southern Aries at the start of the month towards the Hyades in Taurus by the end.
Comet Kushida is a ninth-magnitude object that is best seen through a small or larger telescope.
In this guide we’ll reveal key dates for spotting Comet 144P/Kushida, with charts to help you track it in the sky throughout the month.
Find out what comets and asteroids are in the sky tonight
Comet Kushida key dates
A poor start to 2024 in terms of the planets is offset by a good display of bright comets.
That is, comets that are brighter than, or on the threshold of, binocular observation. An excellent example is 144P/Kushida.
On 1 January, 144P/Kushida sits 2° to the south of mag. 5.8 Uranus, a situation that provides a good navigational guide for finding the comet.
Over the following days, 144P/Kushida heads east, passing 5° north of the pair of stars Xi (ξ) and Omicron (ο) Tauri on 11–14 January.
On 11 January Comet Kushida crosses from Aries into Taurus, then heads directly for the point of the V-shaped Hyades open cluster, marked by Gamma (γ) Tauri.
From 21 to 31 January, 144P/Kushida passes 9° south of the Pleiades open cluster as it approaches the Hyades.
A wide-angle photo of the region will prove interesting, especially if you record the comet over several days and combine the images to show how it moves through the scene.
For more advice, read our guide on how to photograph a comet.
The next perihelion date for 144P/Kushida will be on 25 January 2024, when it is expected to brighten to around ninth magnitude.
Comet Kushida and the Moon
The enemy of diffuse objects like comets is the natural light pollution created by the Moon.
The first new Moon of 2024 occurs on 11 January.
Viewing from early evening 1 January until 18 January will give you dark, moonless skies in which to enjoy the Comet 144P/Kushida.
The Moon then causes a nuisance as it passes through the region where the comet is located, its full phase occurring on 25 January.
Consequently, the period from 19 to 27 January will be problematic in terms of observing comet Kushida.
From 28 January into early February, early evening dark skies will once again form an excellent window through which to view 144P/Kushida.
Facts about Comet Kushida
Comet 144P/Kushida was discovered by Yoshio Kushida at the Yatsugatake South Base Observatory on 8 January 1994.
It was the first comet discovery of 1994 and the second comet discovery by Kushida in the space of one month.
It was recorded on film using a 100mm f/4.0 telescope.
Initial observations were used by Japanese astronomer Shuichi Nakano to compute an orbit which showed a perihelion on 5 December 1993, when the comet passed 1.36 AU from the Sun.
A low inclination orbit of 4.11° to the plane of the Solar System suggested it was a short-period comet.
It’s now known to have a 7.37-year orbit.
As its prefix identifier suggests, it was the 144th comet to have its periodic orbit determined.
At aphelion, 144P/Kushida moves to a position beyond the orbit of Jupiter, 6.28 AU from the Sun.
This distance indicates that this comet belongs to the Jupiter family of comets.
This is a family of comets that exhibit orbits with less than 20-year periods, have low orbital inclinations and are influenced by the gravity of Jupiter.
Around 800 such comets are known.
Have you managed to observe or photograph Comet 144P/Kushida? Let us know by emailing contactus@skyatnightmagazine.com.