Uploaded by

BAA Comet Section

Observer

Mike Mattiazzo

Observed

2024 Sep 26 - 00:00

Uploaded

2024 Sep 29 - 20:30

Objects

C/2023 A3

Planetarium overlay

Constellation

Sextans

Field centre

RA: 10^h39^m
Dec: -06°21'
Position angle: -5°20'

Field size

2°35' × 1°37'

Full filename

2023a3/2023a3_20240926_mmattiazzo.jpg

Target name

C/2023 A3

Title

With 1 day to Perihelion, the comet is looking very healthy. Find attached image of C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS taken on 2024 September 26 at 18:55UT using a C11 RASA f/2.2 + Canon 6D. iso1600 20x15sec. FOV 3x2 deg. North up from Swan Hill, Victoria, Australia. A visual estimate at 19:00UT (05:00AEST Fri 27th) , using 8x40mm binoculars was magnitude 2.9 with 4' coma and strong degree of condensation DC7, tail length 4 degrees in PA259 Comparison stars Alpha Crt(4.2), Nu Hydra(3.2). Comet magnitude was corrected for atmospheric extinction using the average table. Visible to the naked eye, appearing as a fuzzy star. There was still 29% moonlight and twilight interference but conditions are slowly improving. Low altitude (7 degrees). Distance to Sun = 0.39AU (59 million kms) Distance to Earth = 0.95AU (142 million kms) solar elongation = 23 degrees.