                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2024 October 4

                              Comet at Moonrise
                 Image Credit & Copyright: Gabriel Zaparolli

   Explanation: Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) 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, Tsuchinshan–ATLAS 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
                       Tomorrow's picture: not a comet
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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