Along with much of the astronomy community I have been eagerly anticipating the arrival of Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) since its discovery last year.
As orbital parameters and brightness estimates were calculated it became apparent that this comet had the potential to be one of the brightest comets in decades. Better yet, the show would be available to both hemisperes, not just for those south of the equator like Comet C/2006 P1 McNaught back in 2007.
As the comet passes perihelion, it’s close approach to the Sun on Sept 27th, it will briefly appear in the dawn. As maximum elongation conveniently happened on the weekend I planned an outing to meet this icy visitor.
Thus on a Sunday morning I loaded up the astrophoto rig along with a couple other cameras and headed up Mauna Kea at 3am to meet the comet in the dawn.
It was a successful mission, the comet rose bright as the first glow of dawn dressed the horizon. The tail appeared first, a slash of delicate glow reaching upwards.
The comet was easily visible to the unaided eye and quite nice in binoculars. The astrophoto rig made easy work of tracking and shooting this target, so bright I needed to dramatically shorten the exposure times.
After this weekend the comet will again plunge back into the solar glare. Never fear, in another week it will reappear in the evening sky just above the sunset. In the evening sky it will climb ever higher in the sky making the comet an easy target for any curious eyes.
It may have passed perihelion, the usual moment of maximum brilliance for most comets that fade as they orbit away from the intense sunlight, but this comet may have more in store for us…
Fortunately for earthbound observers C/2023 A3 is also rapidly closing with Earth, this will keep the comet bright for a while longer. Better yet, as the angle to the Sun increases a phenomena called forward scattering may cause the brightness to rise dramatically, possibly into the negative magnitudes… Bright enough to be seen in the daytime.
I will be planning a few more photo sessions for the comet’s reappearance in the sunset. Living on the western side of the island will make this easy, this is the realm of sunsets.
Share this:
