Location: Lower Westside Saint John, NB, Canada
Date Time: October 16, 2024 1940 - 2010hrs
Weather: Winds from the west, approximately 35km/hr, mostly clear with some passing clouds, very cool, 5.2C 64% humidity. Windchill.
Equipment: Canon Rebel with 18-55 & 75-300mm lenses. Binoculars. Images processed on PhotoShop.
Objective: To view and image Comet 2023 A3 Atlas-Tsuchinshan which was reported to be between Venus and Arcturus in the west.
Report:
- Very windy and cold. Almost immediately found comet in binos. It was higher in sky than I thought, but showed up bright with its huge long, needle-like tail that's approximately 5 degrees long(estimate from local observers Curt & Ed seems to be in agreement at 5 degrees). Long exposure images shows tail to be much longer though. It's an awesome sight! Whitish color, with bright nucleus.
- Many images were ruined because of the wind, and a huge, strange looking cloud with a dark center in it passed in front of Moon as I was attempting to image it.
- After taking images of comet for a few minutes, the tail started to show up naked eye with averted vision at approximately 1950hrs, looking like a contrail. Shortly after this it was clearly visible naked eye, albeit faint. Imo, brighter than Messier 31, the Andromeda Galaxy(magnitude 3.3) . Brighter than M31 only because it could be seen naked eye from inside the city with a nearly full Moon, Comet showed up like M31 does under dark skies. I would estimate comet brightness at magnitude 2.5.
- There was bright, almost full Moon rising in the East that shone like a huge spotlight.
 |
| With 18-55 lens. |
 |
| With 75-300mm lens |
 |
| Through clouds. |
Well done David.
ReplyDelete