Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS
in the evening sky
10/14/24

 
 With
            a 91% full moon blazing in the eastern sky, you could still see
            25 degrees of tail with the naked eye of this comet hanging like
            a sword in the west. Tonight was the actual evening of orbital
            plane crossing, and so the comet had a gorgeous razor thin anti
            tail on the leading edge. The anti tail is simply the orbital
            plane of the comet seen edge on projected onto the comet head.
            Here, 10 second subframes were taken for over an hour and the
            best 55 were selected - yeilding a net 9.1 minutes of total integration
            time. Look closely about half way down the tail is the globular
            cluster M5, and just above the comets tail in between M5 and
            the comets head is another comet - our old friend Comet Olbers.
            Now it is very dim but it does seem to have a short fan tail.
            Now we must wait a week for the full moon to leave, and the comet
            will certainly be dimmer but in a dark sky.

            
Select an image size for a larger view:

1400 x 1200
            


Lens:  Samyang 135mm f/2 @ f/2.4
Camera: ASI2600 MC
Platform:  Ioptron GEM45
Exposure:  9 mins
Location:  Payson, Arizona
Elevation:  5150 ft.
Sky:  Seeing  4/10, Transparency 7/10
Outside Temperature:  65F
Processing Tools:  Maxim DL, Photoshop CS2
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