C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) (Thomas LELU)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Ophiuchus (Oph) · Contains: Solar system body or event

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C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS)

Acquisition type: Lucky imaging

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C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS)

Acquisition type: Lucky imaging

Here's my modest contribution: I was able to quickly capture an image of the comet in the early evening of Saturday, October 19, 2024. For those unfamiliar with astronomy, this is the Tsuchinshan-Atlas comet. It owes its name to the Tsuchinshan Observatory in China, which first discovered it in 2023, before it was spotted again by the Atlas Observatory.

This comet has a distinctive feature: its nucleus measures between 20 and 40 km in diameter, far larger than the 11 km of the famous Halley's comet. What's more, it's a rare event: the last time it passed by was... 80,000 years ago. On October 9, 2024, the comet reached a magnitude of -4.9, making it one of the brightest comets of the century. By comparison, Venus (the Shepherd's Star) has a magnitude of -5. The comet was even visible on my observatory's surveillance camera!

Tsuchinshan-Atlas' journey takes millions of years, and it may never return. It follows an open orbit, as astronomer Lucie Maquet explains. This makes its future trajectory unpredictable. According to current models, it could be ejected from the solar system and lost in interstellar space.

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Title: The comet is visible in the surveillance camera image

Description: The comet is visible in the surveillance camera image

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The “AstroBin Image of the Day and Top Picks”, or IOTD/TP, is a long-running system to promote beautiful, interesting, peculiar, or otherwise amazing astrophotographs, with a focus on technical excellence. Learn more.

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Views by Submitters (available since September 19th, 2023) Every image is assigned to 50% of available Submitters. In the event that at least 80% of them don't view the image before its time in the IOTD/TP process expires, it's assigned to the other 50% of Submitters and the process begins anew.
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Promotions by Reviewers When 3 distinct Reviewers promote the image, it moves on to the next stage of the process: evaluation for IOTD status.
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Status	Advanced success
Started	...
PixInsight job	FGHEHCPS97QU5CHU655GXKIBVIQD9A6N
PixInsight queue size	n/a
PixInsight stage	TASK_LOG

RA (center)	16h23m18s.250
RA (top/left)	16h27m39s.893
RA (top/right)	16h18m54s.479
RA (bottom/right)	16h18m56s.473
RA (bottom/left)	16h27m41s.348

Dec (center)	+02°25′20″.19
Dec (top/left)	+03°09′43″.53
Dec (top/right)	+03°08′44″.68
Dec (bottom/right)	+01°40′50″.35
Dec (bottom/left)	+01°41′48″.53

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