Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS on Saturday reached its closest distance to the Earth, only 0.472 astronomical units away from the Earth which equals to about 43.9 million kilometers, said an expert from the Beijing Planetarium.
The expert also said that it will be the best observation time from now until October 26.
The comet, with a yellow tail, was first observed by the near-Earth object telescope of the Purple Mountain Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences on Jan 9, 2023.
Its intense brightness has attracted attention of astronomy experts and enthusiasts around the world.
"The reason why this comet has attracted wide attention is that it is indeed quite bright. Relatively speaking, it is bright enough to be easily seen by the naked eye," said Cao Jun, an associate researcher at the Beijing Planetarium.
The comet is widely known among the public as one that will appear again after more than 60,000 years, but Cao believes that this is just a good wish, and it is more likely that the comet will never return.
According to the law of planetary motion proposed by German astronomer Johannes Kepler, all planets orbit the Sun in an ellipse, with the Sun at one focus, under which, theoretically, comet C/2023 A3 will return to its current position after 60,000 to 70,000 years. But later research found that this is actually a special case, which is applicable for planets or periodic comets.
For other celestial bodies in the solar system, their orbits are conic curves, that are ellipses, parabolas or hyperbolas. The known trajectory of comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS indicates that its elliptical orbit is too oblate.
"It has become a parabola, which is open at both ends. It means that if a comet moves on such a parabolic orbit, it will not come back after approaching and then moving away. So, from my perspective, I don't expect to see it again after 60,000 or 70,000 years," said Cao.
Meanwhile, after a comet moves away from the Sun, it will be disturbed by the gravity of other celestial bodies. As long as such gravity has enough energy, the comet will no longer be attracted to the vicinity of the Sun.
Comet C/2023 A3 reaches closest to Earth Saturday
China's plan to inject capital into state-owned banks aims to enhance their risk resilience and lending capacity to better serve the development of the real economy, experts said. Minister of Finance Lan Fo'an told a press conference on Saturday that China will issue special treasury bonds to support large state-owned commercial banks in replenishing the core tier-1 capital.
Tier-1 capital refers to the core capital held in a bank's reserves, including common stock and disclosed reserves.
"Replenishing capital can further enhance the lending capacity of these commercial banks, as the banks need to provide loans and supply more funds to the market. At the same time, the banks also need to consider the adequacy of capital due to the requirements for creditworthiness. Therefore, this capital injection can further improve the lending capabilities of state-owned commercial banks, allowing them to better serve the real economy," said Yang Zhiyong, director of the Center for Public Finance and Taxation Research at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).
Currently, the operations of China's major state-owned commercial banks are generally stable, with maintaining key indicators within a healthy range consistent with international best practices.
The average core tier-1 capital adequacy ratio of those major banks stood at 12.3 percent as of the end of June 2024.
Zhu Qing, a professor of the School of Finance at Renmin University of China, believed that the replenishment of core tier-1 capital is also in response to the heightened international requirements.
"In terms of capital management in commercial banks, the capital adequacy ratio has increased due to the higher global requirements for tier-1 capital. To meet these international standards, the government must utilize methods such as issuing debt to raise funds and strengthen the capital base of state-owned commercial banks," said Zhu.
This work has already begun with the Ministry of Finance, in collaboration with relevant financial regulatory authorities, establishing an interdepartmental working mechanism. A cross-department work group is awaiting specific proposals from the banks for capital replenishment, and all related work is progressing in an orderly manner.
China's capital injection plan to enhance top banks' risk resilience, lending capacity: experts
China's capital injection plan to enhance top banks' risk resilience, lending capacity: experts
