Comet C/2023 A3, also known as Tsuchinshan-Atlas, is coming back to Earth. Our ancestors saw this unusual sight about 80,000 years ago. This comet, which looks like a faint star with a tail, can be seen in the sky in the morning from Friday to Monday. A beautiful video of this has also been made by NASA astronaut Matthew Dominic, who is currently stationed on the International Space Station.
“So far, Comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas looks like a faint star to the naked eye when looking out the cupola windows. But with a 200mm f/2 lens at 1/8s exposure, you can really start to see it. This comet is going to make for some pretty spectacular photos when it gets close to the Sun. Just a timelapse preview for now,” Dominic captioned the video in his X post.
So far Comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas looks like a faint star to the naked eye when looking out the cupola windows. But with a 200mm, f2 lens at 1/8s exposure you can really see it. This comet is going to make for some really great pictures when it gets close to the Sun. For now a… pic.twitter.com/JstaSLJ4Ui
— Matthew Dominick (@dominickmatthew) September 19, 2024
Cumbria-based space enthusiast and amateur astronomer Stuart Atkinson said the comet would look like a ‘fuzzy star with a faint tail’.
Cumbria-based space enthusiast and amateur astronomer Stuart Atkinson said in a social media post that “the comet will look like a faint star with a fuzzy tail, it will be very low in the east, below the Moon. You may need binoculars to see it.”
You can use the moon to find comet A3 Tschinshan-Atlas in the sky before sunrise this weekend. The comet will look like a faint star with a faint tail, very low in the east, below the moon. You may need binoculars to see it. (Charts are made for the UK but are visible elsewhere too) pic.twitter.com/hUISrEqEoT
— Stuart Atkinson (@mars_stu) September 23, 2024
according to BBC Sky at Night Magazine, “Early data suggest that Comet C/2023 A3 completes one orbit every 80,000 years. By late September 2024, it will be a morning object, perhaps as bright as Magnitude +0.6, but rising just before the sun. Comet C/2023 A3 will reach perihelion—the closest point to the sun in its orbit—on September 28, 2024. Our best views of A3 will come when it rises into the evening sky around October 10. By then, it will have faded slightly, but is expected to still be as bright as Magnitude +0.8, appearing low in the west after sunset.”
