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The “comet of the century” at its brightest: photos of the show in the sky

Comet C/2023 A3. Credit: Brandon Ghany / Horizon Productions SFL, via Wikimedia Commons

The “comet of the century” C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-Atlas) has passed the moment of maximum proximity to the Earth and, after reaching its peak brightness in the days from 9 to 12 October, in these days it is still visible for a couple of hours after sunset of the Sun. To observe it you have to look into west direction about 20° above the horizon. We advise you to first locate it with binoculars and then attempt observation with the naked eye, which is still possible in particularly dark skies. Meanwhile, here is a roundup of images of the celestial body from Italy, from the world and also from the International Space Station.

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Comet C/2023 A3 photographed from Oria, Puglia. Credit: Giuseppe Donatiello, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

After the passage to the perigee of October 12th with a magnitude of 0.2, the “comet of the century” is moving further and further away from the Sun in our skies. This allows the comet to be visible after sunset for a longer timewhich is now close to two hours with a magnitude of about 1.

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Credit: Gianluca Masi, The Virtual Telescope Project

The October 17 the comet will be visible in the sky for a long time two and a half hours after sunset of the Sun, which takes place at 6.30 pm (coordinates of Rome). At that time the comet will be at 30 degrees above the horizonin the direction west/southwesthalfway between Venus and the star Arcturus. Its magnitude will decrease as the days pass, with a predicted value of magnitude equal to approximately 2 for October 17th, which makes difficult to see with the naked eye. The advice is to use small binoculars, identify the comet and then attempt observation with the naked eye, and, why not, also photography of the comet.

Clearly, the clearer the sky on the horizon and free of light pollution, the greater the spectacle will be: in particular, in very clean skies you will be able to photograph the long tail of the comet best, as in this shot from the Hawaiian Islands.

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Comet C/2023 A3 seen from the Mauna Kea volcano in the Hawaiian Islands. Credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/M.Rodriguez, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The comet was also photographed from space, in particular from the dome of the International Space Stationwhere during the days the spectacle was guaranteed not only by the absence of atmospheric turbulence but also by the Northern Lights visible in the distance.

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Comet C/2023 A3 seen from the International Space Station. Credit: NASA Johnson Space Center / Don Pettit