October 7, 2024
Billions of years of cosmic evolution — the birth and death of stars, the slow coalescence of planets, the patient unfolding of life — all...
The Long Tails Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS
Birthday · October 7, 2024
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APOD published October 7, 2024. Credit: Jose Santivañez Mueras. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
A bright comet is moving into the evening skies. C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) has brightened and even though it is now easily visible to the unaided eye, it is so near to the Sun that it is still difficult to see. Pictured, Comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS was captured just before sunrise from an Andes Mountain in Peru. Braving cold weather, this unusually high perch gave the astrophotographer such a low eastern horizon that the comet was obvious in the pre-dawn sky. Visible in the featured image is not only an impressively long dust tail extending over many degrees, but an impressively long and blue ion tail, too. This month, as the comet moves out from the Sun and passes the Earth, evening observers should be able to see the huge dirty ice ball toward the west just after sunset. Growing Gallery: Comet Tsuchinsan-ATLAS in 2024
Image credit: Jose Santivañez Mueras