Just Passing Through

A comet descends towards the horizon behind Mt Woodson just after sunset in San Diego.

 

The comet is C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS). Comets are typically named after their discoverers, either a person or a spacecraft, or after the observatory or telescope used to discover them.

 

Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) was discovered by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) on 22 February 2023 and it was also independently observed few weeks before in January 2023 at the Tsuchinshan Chinese Observatory (Purple Mountain Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences). The official designation includes both Tsuchinshan and ATLAS due to these independent observations

 

The next couple of days are a great time to get out there in some dark areas just after sunset and take a look towards the west to catch a glimpse of the comet.

 

Sony A7R5 w/ Samyang 135mm f/1.8

Tracked and Blended.

 

Foreground taken at blue hour

ISO 100, 135mm, f/16, 3 bracketed shot

 

Sky Tracked

ISO 100, 135mm, f/1.8, 16 seconds.

Done