Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS)
Taken by Mike Olason on January 15, 2025 @
Tucson, Arizona
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Camera Used: Unavailable Unavailable
Exposure Time: Unavailable
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Date Taken: Unavailable
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Details:
The comet was very easy to see with a 50mm f/3.5 Refractor and ASI178MC camera as soon as the Sun dipped below the horizon. 15 minutes after sunset one could easily see the comet with 8x21 binoculars, a bright starlike coma and a nice tail in a rich orange twilight sky. Before the comet set several times caught glimpses of the comet with the naked eye, aided by knowing exactly where to look. There was nothing to help one estimate the brightness of the comet but being able to see the comet easily with a 4ms image immediately after sunset suggest that it is similar to what one could see of Jupiter after sunset as others have suggested. It is certainly not as bright as Venus nor as faint as Mercury when I have viewed them after sunset and they were near the horizon. The gif animation was taken about 30 minutes after sunset and is composed of 15x60-200ms images as the exposures were adjusted continually to try to keep up with the slowly fading twilight, unfortunately the software did not show the rich orange twilight that my eyes could see as one looked at the horizon. The single image is an exposure of 80ms taken 30 minutes after sunset, the comets tail was 0.3 degrees long at a position angle of approximately 45 degrees. For a comet that we weren't supposed to be able to see much of in the Northern Hemisphere, this sure is a surprise.
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