AkaSci 🛰️
Here is another outstanding pic of Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) taken by Astronomer Yuri Beletsky before sunrise on Sep 26 from the Carnegie Las Campanas Observatory (LCO) in the Atacama desert in Chile, using a Nikon camera with a 135mm telephoto lens.
As well all know, the comet does not look this majestic to the unaided eye.
AkaSci 🛰️
Here is the current location of comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) in the eastern sky just before sunrise, as seen from Atlanta. It is low in the sky before sunrise and requires good observing conditions to be seen using binoculars.
The comet will get closer to the Sun (as seen from earth) in the coming days and then emerge on the other side around Oct 10 and be visible, hopefully much brighter, in the evening sky.
The comet is visible in both hemispheres.
https://theskylive.com/planetarium?objects=sun-moon-c2023a3-mercury-venus-mars-jupiter-saturn-uranus-neptune-pluto&localdata=33.749%7C-84.38798%7CAtlanta%20GA%20(US)%7CAmerica%2FNew_York%7C0&obj=c2023a3&h=11&m=00&date=2024-09-26#ra|10.713648495253643|dec|-6.106966756528713|fov|80
#comet
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AkaSci 🛰️
Here is the observed and projected light curve of comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS from the excellent website http://astro.vanbuitenen.nl/comet/2023A3 by @giddgvb
Apparent magnitude 6.5 and below are visible to the unaided eye, under good visibility conditions (lower magnitude means brighter). Objects about 3 magnitudes fainter can be seen with binoculars.
Current brightness is around 3. Peak brightness at mag 2.5 is expected around Oct 10. Forward scattering by the Sun may cause mag -2.5 level brightness.
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AkaSci 🛰️
Here is a spectacular pic of Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) taken by Astronomer Yuri Beletsky before sunrise on Sep 24 at 09:22 UTC from the Carnegie Las Campanas Observatory (LCO) in the Atacama desert in Chile, using a Nikon camera with a telephoto lens.
AkaSci 🛰️
Here is the current location of comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS).
Tsuchinshan–ATLAS originated from the Oort cloud and was discovered by the Purple Mountain Observatory on 9 Jan 2023 and independently found by ATLAS South Africa on 22 Feb 2023. Its period is millions of years and will likely not appear again.
Distance from Sun today = 0.4 AU
Distance from Earth = 0.98 AU
Perihelion: Sep 27
Closest approach to earth: Oct 12
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/tools/sbdb_lookup.html#/?sstr=Tsuchinshan-ATLAS&view=VOPC
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C/2023_A3_(Tsuchinshan%E2%80%93ATLAS)
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AkaSci 🛰️
Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS is now visible low in the sky just before sunrise. Best seen using binoculars or a telescope.
Perihelion will be tomorrow. It will get closer to the Sun as seen from Earth in the coming days and be visible in the evening sky after Oct 10. Closest approach to earth is on Oct 12. It may become very bright as its tail gets backlit by the Sun.
This composite image was taken at Lake George, NSW, Australia on Sep 21 by Lucy Yunxi Hu.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
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