Weird Science

C∕2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) Comet

Polish ver­sion is here

On Febru­ary 22, 2023, the ATLAS sys­tem (the Aste­roid Terre­strial-impact Last Alert System), ope­ra­ting at the Suther­land Obse­rva­tory in the Repu­blic of South Africa, detec­ted a new object with a bri­ght­ness of 18.1m. After fur­ther ana­ly­sis, it was clas­si­fied as a comet. At that moment, it was given the tem­po­rary desi­gna­tion A10SVYR. Accor­ding to mea­su­re­ments, it was appro­xi­ma­tely 7.3 astro­no­mi­cal units from the Sun, moving along an orbit indi­ca­tive of a long-period comet.

Fur­ther tra­jec­tory ana­ly­sis reve­a­led that this object was iden­ti­cal to a cele­stial body pre­vio­u­sly repor­te­d—on Janu­ary 9, 2023—to the Minor Pla­net Cen­ter by the Zijin­shan Obse­rva­tory (Pur­ple Moun­tain Obse­rva­tory) in China. Due to incom­plete obse­rva­tio­nal docu­men­ta­tion and a lack of addi­tio­nal con­fir­ma­tions, the object was remo­ved from the cata­log on Janu­ary 30 and con­si­de­red uni­den­ti­fied.

Only after rene­wed veri­fi­ca­tion and con­fir­ma­tion of the obse­rva­tions by two inde­pen­dent teams was the object offi­cially regi­ste­red as a long-period (or poten­tially sin­gle-appa­ri­tion) comet. In accor­dance with the naming conven­tions of the Inter­na­tio­nal Astro­no­mi­cal Union, it rece­i­ved the desi­gna­tion C/2023 A3 (Tsu­chin­shan–ATLAS), hono­ring both obse­rva­to­ries respon­si­ble for its disco­very.

Obse­rva­tions

Octo­ber 15, 2024, aro­und 6:00 PM – Stare Sady near Miko­łajki (Poland)
Con­di­tions: rural area, low light pol­lu­tion, mini­mal cloud cover

While visi­ting the Masu­rian Lakes region for a scien­ti­fic con­fe­rence held in this beau­ti­ful part of the coun­try, I deci­ded to take a short walk during a break. Kno­wing that these days offe­red the best visi­bi­lity of the comet, I took my camera with me. I was not disap­po­in­ted, as the comet was cle­arly visi­ble to the naked eye. I also mana­ged to cap­ture it in a pho­to­graph.

Ilustracja: Photo 1 – without labels

Photo 1 – without labels

Ilustracja: Photo 1 – with labels

Photo 1 – with labels

Obse­rving comets can evoke both aesthe­tic won­der and a sense of reflec­tion on huma­nity’s place in the uni­verse. The awa­re­ness that the comet tra­ve­led an almost unfa­tho­ma­bly long distance from the out­skirts of the Solar Sys­tem, only to shine brie­fly near the Sun, gives it a fle­e­ting cha­rac­te­r—it appe­ars, draws atten­tion, and then disap­pe­ars, often fore­ver. Some comets visit us only once every few tho­u­sand years, making their obse­rva­tion feel like a once-in-a-life­time oppor­tu­nity for any given gene­ra­tion. Histo­ri­cally, comets have been inter­pre­ted as har­bin­gers of chan­ge­—so­me­ti­mes disa­sters, some­ti­mes rene­wal. Their ephe­me­ral pre­sence con­ti­nues to inspire a search for dee­per mea­ning, promp­ting us to que­stion the nature of our exi­stence and the imper­ma­nence of phe­no­mena in the uni­verse.

Photo 1 Para­me­ters:

  • Canon EOS 60D
  • Total expo­sure time: 5 seconds
  • ISO: 1000
  • Lens: zoom
  • Aper­ture: f/4

Fur­ther rea­dings:

Marek Ples

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