The Next Great Comet Is Coming

If you were to ask me what my favorite night sky target was, I would tell you with 100 percent certainty that it was comets. I love everything about them, they are full of personality, challenging, and unpredictable. Comets are mysterious and come from the depths of our outer space to do one of two things, die, or come to life in a fiery outburst of epic and memorizing display. They can do both of these things on the same trip.

Comets are really just giant space snowballs. Comets are huge chunks of ice that are knocked out of orbit from a long distance away, deep outside of our sight. They are then pulled in by the gravity of our sun. The sun wants to eat comets, like a fly to a flame. Comets hurtle themselves toward the light at the center of our solar system, and if all things align right, we get to see them.

I have been imaging comets now for almost 12 years. I have learned over the years that they are incredibly difficult to capture, but with the right tools and an understanding of what is possible, they can be a spectacular sight.

In the last 12 years of comet hunting and imaging, I have captured about two dozen different comets. Most of them could not be seen by the naked eye. A long-exposure camera, sometimes a telescope, and also a tripod that can move with the rotation of the earth (these are called equatorial mounts) are what's required. Then it is all about understanding sky charts, times, and locations, as well as its path and movement. 

Comets are not like meteors. Comets stay in the sky for months at a time; they are almost stationary from night to night, and the movement is subtle. Meteors come and go in the blink of an eye.

Recently, I was going through the latest sky charts to see if any comets in my viewing area were visible and one caught my eye that I found very curious. The location was unusual for me, as most comets are east to west as they move and get close to the sun, but this one was high up on the horizon and facing my southern exposure. 

I pulled out my Seestar telescope and applied the needed settings to grab a shot to see what it looked like. I was expecting my normal results, which would be a small smudge on the screen because this comet is still very far off. I was surprised to see that even at its current distance, there was a significantly dense tail on it. This got me excited, so I started to do more homework.

Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) is the name of this beautiful new target that is heading our way. It was discovered on January 9, 2023, by the Purple Mountain Observatory, and a second observatory called ATLAS verified it. It will be closest to Earth on Sunday, October 13, 2024. During this time, it is expected to be so bright that it will be visible to the naked eye, which means no equipment is required.

Why do I have such high expectations for this comet? The image data I pulled from this week gives me a pretty good reason to believe so. This comet is already showing a beautiful, dense tail, whereas it really should be just a smudge. If the tail is showing this level of density now, there is a very strong chance it will show an incredible level of visibility in the coming months.

The first comet I ever imagined was Comet ISON back in 2012. It was expected to be a huge, bright comet, and the sun devoured it before it had its chance to shine. I tell you this because comets promise us nothing. We know very little about how they will perform as they work their way here. I have my hopes set for October, but I also know not to hold my breath.