Comet C/2023 A3 III
A comet discovered last year — known as C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS — has been making an appearance in the evening sky. The comet initially appeared low on the western horizon in the glow of twilight about 45 minutes after sunset each day starting mid-October, through the end of the month. As the month continues, the comet will become higher in the sky each night as it moves away from the sun and out of the solar system — and will appear dimmer and become harder to see with eyes alone. After that, the comet can still be viewed for a few months — but with with a professional telescope. The snowy dirtball is nearly 2 miles in diameter and its tail of dust and gasses extends for tens of millions of miles. It was first discovered in 2023 by observers at the Purple Mountain Observatory in China and an Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) telescope in South Africa. From the Oort Cloud, a spherical shell that surrounds the solar system and contains icy objects like comets, the comet will come within 44 million miles of Earth, according to NASA. This image was made with an Explore Scientific ED127 telescope (925mm focal length) a ZWO ASI2600MC Pro astro camera and a computerized mount that follows the comet, stacking approximately 30 images shot at 30 seconds each.
Comet C/2023 A3 III
A comet discovered last year — known as C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS — has been making an appearance in the evening sky. The comet initially appeared low on the western horizon in the glow of twilight about 45 minutes after sunset each day starting mid-October, through the end of the month. As the month continues, the comet will become higher in the sky each night as it moves away from the sun and out of the solar system — and will appear dimmer and become harder to see with eyes alone. After that, the comet can still be viewed for a few months — but with with a professional telescope. The snowy dirtball is nearly 2 miles in diameter and its tail of dust and gasses extends for tens of millions of miles. It was first discovered in 2023 by observers at the Purple Mountain Observatory in China and an Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) telescope in South Africa. From the Oort Cloud, a spherical shell that surrounds the solar system and contains icy objects like comets, the comet will come within 44 million miles of Earth, according to NASA. This image was made with an Explore Scientific ED127 telescope (925mm focal length) a ZWO ASI2600MC Pro astro camera and a computerized mount that follows the comet, stacking approximately 30 images shot at 30 seconds each.