Comet A3 Through an Australian Sunrise
Image Credit & Copyright:
Lucy Yunxi Hu
Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS is now visible in the early morning sky.
Diving into the inner
Solar System at an
odd angle, this large dirty iceberg will pass its closest to the
Sun -- between the orbits of
Mercury and
Venus -- in just two days.
Long camera exposures are now capturing
C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS),
sometimes abbreviated as just
A3, and its dust tail before and during sunrise.
The featured image composite was taken four days ago
and captured the comet as it rose above
Lake George,
NSW,
Australia.
Vertical bands further left are
images of the comet as the rising Sun made the predawn sky increasingly bright and colorful.
Just how bright the comet will become over the next month is
currently unknown as it involves how much gas and dust the
comet's nucleus will expel.
Optimistic
skywatchers are
hoping
for a great show where Tsuchinshan–ATLAS creates
dust and ion tails visible across
Earth's sky and becomes known as the
Great
Comet of 2024.