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Credit & Copyright: Gabriel Zaparolli
Explanation:
Comet
C/2023 A3 (TsuchinshanBATLAS)
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, TsuchinshanBATLAS 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
January February March April May June July August September October November December |
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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: 2025 September 30 B Comet Lemmon Brightens
- APOD: 2025 September 29 B Two Camera Comets in One Sky
- APOD: 2025 September 26 B A SWAN an ATLAS and Mars
- APOD: 2025 September 18 B Comet C/2025 R2 SWAN
- APOD: 2025 September 16 B New Comet SWAN25B over Mexico
- APOD: 2025 July 7 B Interstellar Comet 3I ATLAS
- Comet C/2025 F2 SWAN