Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Virgo (Vir)  ·  Contains:  Solar system body or event
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Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS), Pepe Chambó
Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS)
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Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS)

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Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS), Pepe Chambó
Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS)
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Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS)

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Description

This is my first color image of C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS), and it reveals some interesting features about this comet, which could potentially be the brightest in recent years. The orientation of its 2.5 arc-minute long tail indicates that it is composed of dust, as it trails behind the orbital path. There is also no noticeable gas emission in the form of a green or blue envelope; instead, there is a strongly condensed coma with a lot of dust, giving it a white-orange coloration. Its peculiar oblong shape is likely due to the special viewing angle we have these days, as Earth is currently crossing the comet's orbital plane. In this image, its brightness is magnitude 10.5, and with a bit of luck, it could reach near magnitude -1 next september. Though predicting comet brightness is risky, it's almost certain that we'll have a beautiful large dust tail in sight.

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    Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS), Pepe Chambó
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Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS), Pepe Chambó

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C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS)