12 December 2024 - Mission Day: 10604 - DOY: 347
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SOHO sees comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS (October 14, 2024)

C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) was discovered by the Purple Mountain Observatory (China) in January 2023 and independently found in February 2023 by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) located at the Sutherland Observatory in South Africa.

The comet passed perihelion on 27 September 2024 and became visible to the naked eye.

Tsuchinshan-ATLAS peaked its brightest magnitude shortly after passing the Sun at October 9 and was briefly visible to the naked eye during the day.

On SOHO, the comet made its appearance in LASCO's C3 field of view on October 7.

JPG [866K], Hi-res TIFF [3.0M]

Caption: Tsuchinshan-ATLAS in LASCO's field of view while a halo CME
and planet Mercury (left of the Sun, at about nine o'clock) are visible.

MOVIES (Click on image to play, includes audio)

Movie: MP4 Small [4.1M], Large [ 34M]

Movie: MP4 Small [2.3M], Large [ 27M]

Left Image: Tsuchinshan-ATLAS in LASCO's field of view while a halo CME and planet
Mercury (left of the Sun, at about nine o'clock) are visible.
Credits: Simeon Schmauß and SOHO (ESA & NASA).
Right Image: Composite clip of LASCO C2, C3 and AIA 131.
Credits: SOHO (ESA & NASA), created by Daniel Müeller (ESA), using JHelioviewer.

After the nucleus of comet Tshuchinsan-ATLAS left LASCO C3's field of view, the tail remained visible until about October 14th.

The comet is classified as a Hyperbolic Comet. Such comets have a hyperbolic orbit, which means that the comet will only travel through the Solar System once, making this viewing of Tshuchinsan-ATLAS a once-in-a-lifetime event.

Links (more images, videos and full story):

 

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