Comet
-
Comet C/2023 A3 Meets Milky Way
A cosmic encounter of Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS and the Milky Way. Of course, this is true only from the perspective of Earth. The Milky Way is a vast galaxy of almost 100,000 light years across, while the comet was in the inner solar system and its light reached Earth in a matter of minutes.
This image, a stack of 9 individual exposures, was taken on October 24, 2024 by the Lake Huron shore in southern Ontario, 75 minutes after sunset. During this period called the astronomical twilight, stars and the Milky Way appear. The afterglow to the west is very dim to the naked eyes, but on long exposure it is a vibrant yellow and orange, turning into deep blue as one looks up.
-
Comet over Moonlit Farmscape
This image of Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS was taken on October 16, 2024 in Perth County, southern Ontario. The farmscape was brightly lit by the almost full moon. The image is a stack of 32 individual exposures.
Comets are “dirty ice balls” made up of ice, dust, and various organic compounds. As a comet approaches the sun, the ice sublimes, and the dust is pushed away by the solar wind, creating the dust tail which always points away from the sun.
In this image, an “anti-tail” could also be seen pointing in the opposite direction. The anti-tail came from dust left along the orbit of the comet, which became visible as Earth crossed the comet’s orbital plane.
-
Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS in Twilight
Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS was the brightest comet visible in the northern hemisphere since 1997. The comet reached perihelion (closest approach to the sun) on September 27, 2024. By mid-October, the comet emerged from the glare of the sun, bright enough to be visible to the unaided eyes after sunset, and spotting a long dust tail.
This image was taken on October 17, 2024 in Perth County, southern Ontario, 70 minutes after sunset. 34 exposures were stacked for noise reduction in creating the final image. The dust tail measured approximately 20 degrees in this image. An “anti-tail”, formed by comet dust left along the orbit of the comet, could also be seen pointing in the opposite direction.
-
Good Morning, Neowise
Comet C/2020 F3 Neowise was discovered on March 23, 2020 on its way towards the inner solar system. It emerged from perihelion (closest approach to the sun) on July 3 as the brightest comet visible from the northern hemisphere in 23 years, and was visible to the naked eye through the month of July 2020.
This image was taken on July 10, 2020. Neowise was a bright magnitude 2 comet at the time with a beautiful long tail. It had no problem outshining the early morning twilight and the 75% moon, which provided the warm illumination for the farmscape. Neowise is now on its way out of the solar system and will not return for another 7000 years.
Twenty one individual exposures were stacked to create this noise-free image.
-
Neowise at Sundown
Comet C/2020 F3 Neowise behind the iconic Southampton Lighthouse on July 20, 2020. Comet Neowise was the brightest comet visible in the northern hemisphere since Comet Hale-Bopp in 1997. It can be seen with the unaided eyes in July 2020.
Comets are “dirty ice balls” made up of ice, dust, and various organic compounds. As a comet nears the sun, the ice sublimes (turns into water vapour) from the heat of the sun, and the dust is pushed away from the comet nucleus by the solar wind, creating the dust tail.
This image was one of the 80 photographs selected to represent Canada in the 2022 Four Nations Photo Competition.
-
Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS in Southampton
Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS was the brightest comet visible in the northern hemisphere since 1997. With its original from the Oort Cloud in the outer reach of the solar system, the comet was first spotted in January 2024 by the Tsuchinshan (Purple Mountain) Observatory in China, and then independently discovered by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) in February, which also confirmed it to be a comet.
This image was captured at the Southampton Lighthouse by the shores of Lake Huron, under an almost full moon. 65 frames were stacked for a total exposure time of 6.5 minutes in creating this image.
-
Midnight Starscape and Comet Neowise
A starry midnight scene by Lake Huron, where two prominent features in the night sky made a natural alignment with the Southampton Lighthouse. The first object is the Big Dipper, the seven brightest stars in the image, is part of the constellation of Ursa Major (the Big Bear) and is one of the most well-known asterism in the northern sky. The second object is Comet C/2020 F3 Neowise, which was visible with the unaided eye in July 2020. Comets are “dirty ice balls” made up of ice, dust, and various organic compounds. As a comet approaches the sun, the ice sublimes (turns into water vapour) from the heat of the sun, and the dust is pushed away from the comet nucleus by the solar wind, creating the characteristic dust tail of the comet.
