Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS

[William Monfredo]

A comet will be visible tonight and perhaps the next couple of days.
You can locate it between bright Venus and Antares close to the western horizon about 45 minutes after and where the sun sets.
You may be able to see it with the naked eye, but bring binoculars and a steady camera, too.

 

[James K]

I might have to look for that... West is good for me in the fact its dark that direction since no city lights, but also depends on just how low on the horizon it is, as mountains are west of me.

 

[William Monfredo]

It's out there; I spent about a half-hour with it, but it moved really close to the horizon plenty fast. You can just make it out without binoculars if you know where to look, and you can surely see it by looking away and viewing it with peripheral vision. It looks pretty good with 8x binoculars.
I think the long, dusty tail really added to the overall view. I did not get a picture; I hope someone does. Tomorrow & the next day present possibilities as well, but as they say in the movie Twister, "It's not hanging out long." It's speeding away from the sun very quickly.

 

[James K]

Might be too close to the horizon for me then.
I did look out there earlier after seeing this post, but its gotten cloudy here (was mostly clear before sunset).

 

[William Monfredo]

According to Sky & Telescope... October 14 & 15 are likely the best nights for comet watchers. Why? "The comet will be more prominently positioned against a darker backdrop, which will make it easier to spot and observe without the interference of bright twilight." So, it's slightly less bright, but in a better spot, further from the sunset. It's worth checking out. From Gone with the Wind, "After all, tomorrow is another day."

 

[Dan Robinson]

Is there a good source for the comet's position in the sky? Something like the Photographer's Ephemeris that shows a map? Everything I've seen has a sky map but not a surface one.

 

[Dan Robinson]

The comet is huge -it's a *lot* bigger than I expected and visible with the naked eye. I wasn't planning on shooting it tonight, but I made a dash into the city after seeing it and realizing I wasn't going to need a long lens (that I'd originally thought I would need to rent for it). Once I got into the city though, I completely lost it and it didn't show up in any of my exposures. Will try again tomorrow.

 

[William Monfredo]

It feels oddly exhilarating to see something like this comet, especially when viewing it was never a slam dunk. Would it hold together or break up going around the sun? It held up. Would it become visible to the naked eye? Check. Would the dust & gas tail grow & reflect a lot of light? Yes.
I drove a few miles up a prominent hill to make sure I had a good view of the horizon yesterday. Curious about changes to the comet's view now.

 

[James K]

I tried to look for it this evening/night, but was cloudy to the west.

 

[John Farley]

There was a really nice picture on an Albuquerque newscast tonight. Huge tail. Unfortunately, I have commitments that prevent me from getting out in the early evening the next 2 nights, but maybe Wednesday if it is not too cloudy.

 

[William Monfredo]

I'm attaching an image that might help comet watchers get oriented. I'm going to get out there ~ 45 minutes after sunset to check it out again.
Also, here's a somewhat simpler-looking image that first got me situated a couple of days ago (Stellarium.) Once it gets darker, it's not difficult.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Apparently I was mistaken about what I thought was the comet last night. I went downtown again and was able to capture it - it was not as big as the object I saw in the western sky last night. I'm not sure what I was looking at then, but it wasn't Tsuchinshan-ATLAS. I actually got better results with my phone here than my DSLR. We had high clouds moving in, which apparently reduced the visibility here after seeing imagery from other cities around the country. Will try again tomorrow if clouds permit.

From my DSLR (Canon 50mm F1.8 lens, two-frame blend of a 0.8-second exposure and a 4-second exposure):



From my phone, 3-second single exposure:

 

[William Monfredo]

I used an iGen NV20/20 3X night-vision monocular tonight. It's a light-multiplier...with the infrared turned off and the onboard snapshot turned on.
From 7:45 - 8:15 p.m. CST, the comet's tail appeared sweeping, and others could see much of it unaided, but higher in the sky than last time.
I believe that the waxing moon, more than 3/4, began to wash out this visitor from 80K years ago. What were people doing way back then?
This next one's processed for better contrast and less noise.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Attempt #3 over downtown St. Louis. Still some pesky stratocu, but otherwise clear behind that. But now we have thick smoke from a huge warehouse fire north of downtown that the north winds are bringing right over the city, So I'll need to try yet again. This again is a 2-frame blend of 0.6 second and 4 second exposures (Arch lights are too bright to capture the comet in a single frame).

 

[twarner]

Here is my shot of the comet from Wichita.