Astronomy Picture of the Day - Most of Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS

NASA ^ | 18 Oct, 2024 | Image Credit & Copyright: Adam Block

[MtnClimber]

Explanation: On October 14 it was hard to capture a full view of Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS. Taken after the comet's closest approach to our fair planet, this evening skyview almost does though. With two telephoto frames combined, the image stretches about 26 degrees across the sky from top to bottom, looking west from Gates Pass, Tucson, Arizona. Comet watchers that night could even identify globular star cluster M5 and the faint apparition of periodic comet 13P Olbers near the long the path of Tsuchinshan-ATLAS's whitish dust tail above the bright comet's coma. Due to perspective as the Earth is crossing the comet's orbital plane, Tsuchinshan-ATLAS also has a pronounced antitail. The antitail is composed of dust previously released and fanning out away from the Sun along the comet's orbit, visible as a needle-like extension below the bright coma toward the rugged western horizon.

[MtnClimber]

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For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then move the magnifying glass cursor then click to zoom in and click again to zoom out. When zoomed in you can scan by moving the side bars on the bottom and right side of the image.

[MtnClimber]

[MtnClimber]

Pinging the APOD list

🪐 🌟 🌌 🍔

[No name given]

Wow.

[Tommy Revolts]

I keep looking for it each night, from Phoenix, and I have not seen it yet. It looks incredible.

[MtnClimber]

I have been looking too. I have lights from the town of Winter Haven, FL that light up the sky and make it hard to even see stars in the direction of Venus in the evening. I doubt I will see it this time.

[Tommy Revolts]

Thanks for posting the image.

[Tommy Revolts]

Thanks for posting the image.

[telescope115]

Both Wednesday night and last night I captured images of ot on my cellphone. I couldn’t directly see it both nights, I just aimed my phone in the direction of where it should be and got lucky.

I even tried with my 15x80 binoculars mounted on a tripod. Couldn’t see it.

[Deaf and Discerning]

A light saber?

[minnesota_bound]

We need to return fire on the aliens shooting at us.
The dinosaurs did not and look what happened to them...