Thursday, September 12, 2024
Viewing Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) from Australia in September 2024.
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| Morning
sky on Saturday, September 14 as seen from Adelaide at 05:25 ACST (60
minutes before sunrise), C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS may be visible in
the twilight, in the coming days it will rise higher in the twilight and
may become visible to the unaided eye possibly with a nice little tail. Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at roughly the equivalent local time (60 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen). | Morning sky on Sunday, September 22 as seen from Adelaide at 05:10 ACST (60 minutes before sunrise), C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS may be visible in the twilight, the comets brightness is exaggerated in the illustration to make it eaier to see. Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at roughly the equivalent local time (click 60 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen). | Morning sky on Thursday, September 26, on the day before perihelion, as seen from Adelaide at 05:05 ACST (60 minutes before sunrise), C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS may be visible in the twilight, the comets brightness is exaggerated in the illustration to make it easier to see. Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at roughly the equivalent local time (60 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen). |
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| Morning sky on Monday, September 30 as seen from Adelaide at 04:59 ACST (60 minutes before sunrise), C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS may be visible in the twilight, the comets brightness is exaggerated in the illustration to make it easier to see. Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at roughly the equivalent local time (60 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen). | Path of C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS in the eastern morning sky from 12 September on.
Black&White chart suitable for printing (click on the image to embiggen and print). The image is at civil twilight 30 minutes before sunrise to show the path of the comet over the month, however, the best time to observe is nautical twilight (60 minutes before sunrise). The circle is the approximate field of view of 10x50 binoculars. | Binocular hart of the path of C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS in the eastern morning sky from 12 September on. Black&White chart suitable for printing (click on the image to embiggen and print). The image is at civil twilight 30 minutes before sunrise to show the path of the comet over the month, however, the best time to observe is nautical twilight (60 minutes before sunrise). The circle is the approximate field of view of 10x50 binoculars. |
The long anticipated comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS has been seen in the morning sky by Terry Lovejoy (of comet Lovejoy fame). At magnitude 5.5 it is a bit brighter than predicted, and although the more optimistic predictions of it's potential brightness are unlikely to be fulfilled, it looks like it will be a nice little comet. Visible to the unaided eye but not spectacular.
Probably the earliest most of us will be able to see the comet is this Saturday, when it is around 4 degrees above the horizon. You will need a level, unobstructed horizon to see it and binoculars. Although theoretically visible to the unaided eye, the atmospheric density near the horizon and the encroaching dawn will mean the comet will be obscured. Through binoculars it will be a fuzzy dot.
The printable black and white charts above will help you locate the comet, you may need binoculars first to locate it before you can spot is with your unaided eye.
When the comet makes its closest approach to the Sun on 27 September, at a distance of 0.40 A, it will be in a better position at around 9 degrees (nearly two hand-spans) above the horizon at nautical twilight (60 minutes before sunrise) and should be (just) unaided eye visible and likely its tail will be binocular visible.
The comet will continue to brighten as it heads towards its closest approach to earth on the 12th of October, sadly for most of the time it is too close to the sun to see. and from 2nd October to 13 October the comet will be lost in the twilight.
Labels: binocular, C/2023 A3, comet, unaided eye
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