November 6, 2024
Some stars end in silence, some in fire, and some leave behind the raw materials for birthdays.
Comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas over the Dolomites
Birthday · November 6, 2024
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APOD published November 6, 2024. Credit: Alessandra Masi. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas is now headed back to the outer Solar System. The massive dusty snowball put on quite a show during its trip near the Sun, resulting in many impressive pictures from planet Earth during October. The featured image was taken in mid-October and shows a defining visual feature of the comet -- its impressive anti-tail. The image captures Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) with impressively long dust and ion tails pointing up and away from the Sun, while the strong anti-tail -- composed of more massive dust particles -- trails the comet and points down and (nearly) toward the recently-set Sun. In the foreground is village of Tai di Cadore, Italy, with the tremendous Dolomite Mountains in the background. Another comet, C/2024 S1 (ATLAS), once a candidate to rival Comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas in brightness, broke up last week during its close approach to our Sun. Growing Gallery: Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS in 2024
Image credit: Alessandra Masi