                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2024 October 18

                       Most of Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS
                    Image Credit & Copyright: Adam Block

   Explanation: On October 14 it was hard to capture a full view of Comet
   C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS. Taken after the comet's closest approach
   to our fair planet, this evening skyview almost does though. With two
   telephoto frames combined, the image stretches about 26 degrees across
   the sky from top to bottom, looking west from Gates Pass, Tucson,
   Arizona. Comet watchers that night could even identify globular star
   cluster M5 and the faint apparition of periodic comet 13P Olbers near
   the long the path of Tsuchinshan-ATLAS's whitish dust tail above the
   bright comet's coma. Due to perspective as the Earth is crossing the
   comet's orbital plane, Tsuchinshan-ATLAS also has a pronounced
   antitail. The antitail is composed of dust previously released and
   fanning out away from the Sun along the comet's orbit, visible as a
   needle-like extension below the bright coma toward the rugged western
   horizon.

              Growing Gallery: Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS in 2024
                      Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                             & Michigan Tech. U.

