I headed out this week on the evening of 17 April to observe and capture images of Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) from my location in Kendal, Cumbria in the UK, and can cautiously say the comet is showing encouraging signs it could be one to look out for in September/October 2024.
Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks has fled south, after delighting/frustrating/infuriating UK observers during the past six months of seemingly endless rain and cloud.
So comet observers are turning their attention and their cameras towards another comet which, if it behaves itself, might be an easy naled-eye object later in the year.
Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) is currently moving slowly through the constellation of Virgo, so can be found low in the south east by late in the evening.
It's heading towards the Sun, but is still so far away - halfway between Mars and Jupiter, in fact - that it's still only 11th magnitude.
That places Comet C/2023 A3 well beyond the reach of the naked-eye and binoculars, but it is visible through telescopes and photographically too.
Long exposure images tracking the comet show it as an out-of-focus star, and some are already showing hints of a tail too.
Photographing Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS)
Even though C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) is still faint, it can be photographed using quite basic equipment, even under light polluted skies.
You can find out more about this in our guide on how to photograph a comet.
My images of C/2023 A3 were taken from Kendal in Cumbria, UK on the evening of 17 April using just a Canon 700D DSLR camera fitted with a 300mm lens, tracking the sky on an iOptron Sky Tracker motorised mount.
They are processed stacks of multiple 30 second images, and show the distant comet as a fuzzy object compared to sharper stars around it.
Can we get excited yet?!
The fact that the comet is already showing up on photos taken from a light polluted site - with a very bright Moon in the sky - is quite encouraging.
If Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) continues to behave itself it may be easily visible to the naked eye in the evening sky in October 2024.
But there's a long time to go, and the comet may fizzle and fade as previous promising comets have done.
We'll just have to cross our fingers and wait and see what happens in the autumn.
Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) is drifting slowly and silently through Virgo, passing close to the bright star Spica.
Get some pictures of it now and even though they'll show it as a small smudgy speck, it'll be fun to compare how it looks now with how it looks in October when it is at its best.
Whatever its best turns out to be!
If you've been out observing or photographing Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS), share your experiences and images with us via contactus@skyatnightmagazine.com
