Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS): The Successful Conclusion of a Comet Hunt

We set out to find the comet, and we succeeded. C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS is finally immortalized in our digital archive.

On the evening of October 15, 2024, clear skies were forecasted, so we headed towards the Toppilansaari shore, known for its excellent westward views over the open Gulf of Bothnia. We arrived just before 7 PM and immediately noticed we weren’t alone. The nearby parking lot was almost full of cars. Despite the cold wind, people had come out with the same idea.

From Desperation to Success

Desperation began to creep in as I snapped the sky with my iPhone, until I noticed that in one of the pictures, the comet and its faint tail were visible. The time was 7:29 PM.

The sky began to darken, and behind us, the Moon rose almost full, illuminating the landscape. Next to the Moon, Saturn was also visible, but our interest was elsewhere this time. I snapped pictures as quickly as I could, and my phone’s battery indicator started showing red. Yet the pictures kept getting better and better. The northern lights also added to the atmosphere on the northern sky.

For a while, we had to warm ourselves in the car and charge phone batteries, but it didn’t matter, as the comet became more visible to the naked eye afterwards. The tail, however, was best captured with photos taken with exposure times of 3-10 seconds on the phone. I took the last photos with the intention of enhancing them at home using photo editing software to better bring out the brightness differences. Before that, I took a quick trip to the Rajahauta beach to see how it looked from there. And yes, it was worth taking a few shots there too.

Finally, at home with a hot chocolate and a couple of sandwiches, I sat down at the computer and selected the best shots for quick editing in GIMP. Let’s include them here at the end.

Viimeksi muokattu 16.10.2024 11:53