Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS

[William Monfredo]

I decided to get out again with a tripod and shoot wide around 8 p.m. CST. Twilight time over north-central Nebraska shows the comet in center.

 

[gdlewen]

This was taken with a hand-held iPhone 15 this evening overlooking Skiatook Lake at 8PM CDT--using the iPhone 15's Night Mode. The full moon has risen behind the camera, and "paints" the foliage in the foreground.




I took several sets of images with my Z6 for stacking, and will probably use them to practice with the stacking software because this comet is a good subject for learning.

But honestly, this simple picture really is good enough to preserve the memory. If you have a smart phone with similar night mode capability you should get out there and take the shot, weather permitting of course!

 

[Dan Robinson]

Fourth try was the charm here Wednesday night, with crystal-clear skies free of clouds and smoke. Those conditions finally allowed the long tail to show up. This again a 2-frame blend of back-to-back exposures of 0.4 seconds and 6 seconds, F3.5 Canon 50mm at 400ISO. I need to ask the NPS if they'd consider shutting the lights off for events like this. They do it for birds!



Added to the Gateway Arch gallery here:

The Gateway Arch in St. Louis : Prints and Stock Photography :: by Dan Robinson

 

[William Monfredo]

This shot's from a Panasonic FZ2500 fixed-zoom camera last evening that sees almost ten times closer than the perspective of the human eye.
It's processed of course with an unapologetic approach to provoke emotion and a feeling of "I sure hope it doesn't hit anything down here!"

 

[John Farley]

After a fails the previous couple nights (clouds Tuesday night and poor planning the previous night), I finally got some pictures of the comet last night. These were taken on the northwest fringes of Rio Rancho, NM.



This was one of the very few places in northern New Mexico that was not totally overcast. I drove through rain to get there, but could see both visually and on satellite imagery that a relatively clear area was moving into that area from the southwest.

 

[gdlewen]

OK so this is 30 images (Nikon Z6 w/ Nikkor-Z zoom lens @77mm, f/6 and 2.5 sec exposure) stacked with Deep Sky Stacker 5.1.6. I think this set used too high of an ISO for stacking, set at ISO2000. I have other sets at lower ISO to try. The stacking and focus are good--the stars are nice and round and you can even see the "anti-tail". But the background is too bright. I've seen better pictures posted by others, so it's clear there's room for improvement.

We have clear skies again this evening in NE OK. Any suggestions from ST if I go back out again tonight? It might be worth it to see how long of an anti-tail I can capture.

 

[William Monfredo]

Is there a good source for the comet's position in the sky? Something like the Photographer's Ephemeris that shows a map?

Found this site afterwards...it might be helpful in the future. It allows you to change the object of interest & location on earth to see the sky view.

Online Star Maps: Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) | TheSkyLive

Find Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) in the sky using our online planetarium web application.

theskylive.com