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Credit & Copyright: Gabriel Zaparolli
Explanation:
Comet
C/2023 A3 (TsuchinshanÁATLAS)
is growing brighter in planet Earth's sky.
Fondly known as comet A3,
this new visitor to the inner Solar System is traveling from the
distant Oort cloud.
The comet reached perihelion,
its closest approach to the Sun,
on September 27 and will reach perigee, its
closest to our fair planet, on October 12,
by then becoming an evening sky apparition.
But
comet A3
was an early morning riser on September 30
when this image was made.
Its bright coma and already long tail share a pre-dawn skyscape from
Praia Grande, Santa Catarina in southern Brazil with
the waning crescent Moon just peeking above the eastern horizon.
While the behaviour of comets is
notoriously
unpredictable, TsuchinshanÁATLAS could become a
comet
visually rivaling
C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE).
Comet NEOWISE
wowed skygazers in the summer of 2020.
Growing Gallery:
Comet Tsuchinsan-ATLAS in 2024
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: comet
Publications with words: comet
See also:
- APOD: 2026 February 17 Á Tails of Comet Wierzchoå
- APOD: 2025 December 30 Á An Artificial Comet
- 3I/ATLAS Flyby
- SWAN, Swan, Eagle
- APOD: 2025 October 6 Á The Changing Ion Tail of Comet Lemmon
- APOD: 2025 December 1 Á 3I ATLAS: Tails of an Interstellar Comet
- APOD: 2025 November 25 Á Comet Lemmon and the Milky Way