Podcaster: Shane and Chris
Title: Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-Atlas
Organization: Actual Astronomy
Link : https://actualastronomy.podbean.com/ ; https://www.deepskyeye.com/
Description: The Actual Astronomy Podcast presents Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-Atlas. In this episode we discuss our successes and failures at trying to see this comet. We also detail what other observers have been able to see as well as a primer to comets and where you can see Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-Atlas in your skies.
Bio: Shane and Chris are amateur astronomers who enjoy teaching astronomy classes and performing outreach where they help the eyes of the public to telescope eyepieces.
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Transcript:
Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-Atlas on Episode 452 of the Actual Astronomy podcast. I’m Chris and joining me is Shane. We are amateur astronomers who love looking up at the night sky and this podcast is for everyone who enjoys going out under the stars.
- Happy Canadian Thanksgiving, beer, turkey, bacon and observing.
- Did you buy that 17”?
- Had some notes and a photo from Wade in Australia where the comet has been
- Have you seen the comet?
- Clark wrote of his success on October 3rd.
Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) report.
Hello, Chris and Shane.
I hope you are both keeping well.
On the morning of October 3, I dragged myself out of bed and drove to a spot that had a suitable eastern horizon in Cambridge, Ontario.
The skies were as good as it gets in these parts. My patience paid off as, despite light pollution I was able to spot the comet very low in the east in 10*42mm binoculars (about 6:20 am). I was delighted at this rather unimpressive smudge. As it rose it got easier to see until the increasing brightening sky overpowered it.
I could not see it with unaided eye but once I knew where it was, I could photograph it with more confidence. The comet nucleus appeared quite large, and a short tail could be seen both visually and in photographs.
Included is one of my photos, cropped with only basic editing. The comet is above the wide tree barely visible and showing a short tail.
The higher northern latitudes make this a much more difficult challenge. The window for observing the comet was at most 15 minutes.
Cheers.
-Clark
- Thurs. Eric from Calgary started texting me about his attempt
“The comet is on the east side of the sun. Myself and binoculars safely on the edge of shade, and the sun motion will continually put orange shade.
I can position myself in a large building’s shade, and the sun’s motion will only put me more into the shade. It was more dangerous when the comet was on the west side of the sun cause after a minute or two the sun might pop out from behind the building’s edge unexpectedly.
Just went outside to try with 10×50 binos. No luck yet. Still another 1hr 50min before it reaches the meridian. I see lots of spider webs floating around, or threads of silk. It’s amazing how much stuff you see floating in the air when you’re looking so close to the sun! Even an insect really far away is really really bright!
Damn. I bet if I had more time and wasn’t jumping out of the office in a panic I’d be able to find it. Maybe binos with image stabilization.
Eric:
Heading outside one last time to try again. Last ditch effort.
Chris Beckett:
Good luck!🤞
Eric:
I drove nearby and went under a bridge. Position car so that it just landed in shadow. I could rest my binos on the top of car for very good stability. Basically as if tripod-mounted. But no dice. I panned around for over ten minutes. Very carefully and systematically. Even had small micro tufts of cloud pass through my field of view which I hoped would help my eyes align and pick it out. But nothing!!! Haha fun to try anyways. Just some weirdo staring at the sky with binoculars, looking at nothing!!
Friday: Eric did see it image at right.
I got it last night Saturday the 11th:
So this comet is panning out.
Some observations place it at -2 and considering I could see it through dense cloud I’d say it’s pretty bright. I thought it looked like an out of focus version of Venus as I’ve observed that planet behind clouds and it is about like that but this was a fleeting observation. I’d say that it definitely is in the -2 range considering I’ve observed Mercury when it’s at elongation and I’d say this was easier plus there is the tail so certainly that would pop it well into the -2 range. For context Neowise maxed at -1 but most of us saw it around July 4th when it was just in the +1.x range. So this A3 comet is the brightest I’ve seen. Only Comet McNaught was brighter at -5.5 but it was below the horizon really for us AND it was in winter and I was horribly sick in bed.
– Short-period comets come from the Kuiper Belt and take less than 200 years to orbit while long-period comets like A3 Tsuchen Atlas come from the orrt Cloud and take more than 200 years to orbit.
– The heart of a comet is known as the nucleus and these are usually less than 10 mile / 16 km across.
– When the comet gets close to the sun, as A3 did on Sept. 27th, it heats up and causes jets of gad to burst from the comet. These eruptions brings gas, dust and create a fuzzy cloud around the nucleus called the coma.
– A dust tail traces away from the sun, usually reflecting a white light from the sun while a blueish tail may be present, this is the Ion Tail an is made up of electrically charged gas molecules or ions. This always points directly away from the sun.
– Comets are super dense.
– Rosetta, a mission of the European Space Agency that had several NASA instruments onboard, studied Comet 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Rosetta dropped a lander on the nucleus, then orbited the comet for two years. Rosetta detected building blocks of life on this comet, too. And images showed Comet 67P to be a rugged object with lots of activity shaping its surface
What equipment / how to see it?
It’s coming out of the west and will head just south of M5 by Tuesday night. My plan is to sketch this event and I’ve taken the day off Tuesday to make sure nothing gets in my way!
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