A Charming Comet

There was the standard hype and hope surrounding Comet C\2023 A3 (a.k.a. Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) as it closed in on perihelion last month. Discovered some 18 months earlier, it had seemed to stutter on its brightening curve over the summer, leading some to wonder if it'd be only a 3rd-4th magnitude object. Others fretted that the comet was not even going to survive buzzing the Sun and would go the route of Comet ISON in 2013 and disintegrate.

However, by early October it became apparent that the comet had survived and was poised to put on a nice show in northern skies around the 2nd week of October. The window of opportunity would not be very long as the Oort visitor would be quickly heading outbound and fading with each passing day. Would it be something I could see with my naked eye? And would nature cooperate with some clear skies?

Comet C/2023 A3 on Oct 15th

The evening of October 15th had beautifully clear skies so I grabbed the camera and walked up the street a little to get the best possible western sky view. I started around 7:20 pm and continued looking for the comet for about 25 minutes. I had no luck with either naked eye or using my 7x50 binoculars, which I attributed in part to being quite literally 20 yards from a street light. I kept snapping bracketed images of the sky in hopes that maybe I would pick up something.

Once inside with the images downloaded to the laptop it was quite apparent that I had been scouring the area a little south of the comet's position, because it was there quite clearly in the 4-second exposure. Sigh - a missed opportunity yet again due to Towson's light pollution!

Fortunately the weather was in one of those fabulous fall runs of clear, dry skies. So the next day I used Google Maps to identify a location in Hereford that appeared to have some parking as well as a nice western horizon. Shortly after dinner I set off with camera and binoculars to the Gunpowder State Park Trails off of Mt Carmel Rd. Twilight was fading when I got there and I was a little surprised at the number of people who were already there in the tiny parking lot. I grabbed the camera and walked across the road to keep the overhead power lines out of any picture.

It took only seconds to sweep up the comet in the binoculars sporting a beautiful coma of about 2nd magnitude with a tail fanning out behind it for several degrees. Lowering the binoculars and using averted vision I could definitely make out a streak in the western sky. There'd be no way to discern that from home, but out here, even with the automobile lights on this heavily traveled road, it was clearly naked-eye visible. I did a quick look in the glove compartment for my distance glasses but alas they were missing.

I started clicking off shots of Tsuchinshan-ATLAS as quickly as I could as some malingering clouds threatened to get in the way. I bracket exposures as well as focal length to hopefully get a wide angle and then a closer shot of the beautiful visitor. The rising full Moon over my shoulder served as a good test of focus to ensure I did not mess that up. I kept taking occasional breaks to admire the comet in the binoculars, admiring the gossamer tail trailing the star-like coma. 

While Tsuchinshan-ATLAS was certainly a pretty sight, it made me appreciate just how amazing the late 90's had been with Hyakutake and then Hale-Bopp. Those were truly spectacular comets that graced our skies back then, setting the benchmark against which all other icy interlopers are measured in my mind.

19 stacked 2.5 second frames at ISO 800

All too soon the comet lost altitude as it parachuted towards the horizon. Venus had set and Boötes with his lucida of Arcturus was struggling to stay above the horizon, signaling it was time to wrap things up. I grabbed the camera & tripod and carefully crossed the road to the parking lot (as one gets older it's critical to move carefully in the dark to avoid a fall!)

As I reached the car I chatted with a couple of folks who were also enjoying the spectacle. One of them had brought a Seestar and was getting some very impressive shots with that. And as it turned out one the guys was John Rose, a high school friend who had been in the Boys' Latin Astronomy club with me some 50 years earlier. I couldn't help but think how very cool it was that here we were a half century later, still being lured out under the night sky to witness its wonders!