David's Images of the Day Photoblog
The comet continues to be visible to my Stellina and Vespera telescopes. The tail is getting shorter and shorter. The images are five-minute composites (30 x 10 second exposures). With longer exposures there is movement of the comet head relative to the visible stars. Clouds came in before the comet descended below the western tree line preventing longer observations.
The comet is now high enough just after dusk to view from my patio, so I don’t need to move the Vespera telescopes to the far back section of the yard. It also means I can use the Stellina telescope, which is heavier and requires a sturdier tripod. Note the thin bright streak going back from the head of the comet down the middle of the tail.
Four tripods and four telescopes were set up in the far corner of the back yard to view the comet. The Vespera telescopes weigh 11 lbs (5 kg) which makes them relatively easy to transport and move. I’m not sure why the image from the Vespera Pro telescope was dimmer than the others.
It was another clear night and two tripods and two telescopes were moved to the back section to view the comet. Each night Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) is a little bit higher in the sky but becomes a bit dimmer. The estimated magnitude of the comet was +4.9. The length of the comet tail also decreases every night. The digital sensor field of view for the first image (Vespera Passengers ) with the comet head near the center is 2.4° x 1.8°. For the second image (Vespera II) I was able to get the comet head closer to the bottom. The diagonal field of view for this sensor is 2.5° x 1.4°.
I returned to the far corner of my backyard with a view to the west where Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) was still high enough above the trees be visible just after dusk. The estimated magnitude of the comet was +4.7. I couldn’t see it directly, but easily captured an image with Vespera Pro telescope. This is a composite of 30 stacked 10 second images (300 second exposure).
