Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS on its way for a great show in October

Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS), first discovered in early 2023, has been zooming towards the inner solar system ever since. Earlier this year it was touted as potentially becoming the brightest comet in decades. Then some news came that it may have already started to 'self destruct' as it approached the sun.

August 10th with a 2.8′ coma and 16.9′ tail

Despite fears that it may be disintegrating, the comet was spotted by NASA's STEREO-A spacecraft on the other side of the sun and seems to be in good health (whatever good health means for a ball of dirty ice). I'm anticipating some good news in the next few weeks, but comets are very fickle, and they do what they want - remember comet ISON?

September 27th marks the date of perihelion, the point in the comet's orbit when it is closest to the sun. After perihelion passage C/2023 A3 will start moving away from the solar system. If it survives perihelion, it will then race upward in the western sky - prime viewing for us in the northern hemisphere. 

On October 9, 2024, C/2023 A3 will be close to the sun but may be visible if the comet turns out to be as bright as the most optimistic forecasts claim it might - as bright as Venus. Each night it gets higher and higher and will be easier to spot against the darker sky.  But it's also getting dimmer and dimmer, and any tail will start to decrease in length as the comet leaves the sun's vicinity. 

Key events:

October 10 - comet head glows brightly with an ion tail rising straight up. The dust tail should be splendid due to the forward scattering effect as it is situated between us and the sun.

October 13 - a sunward-pointing anti-tail forms, as the comet now can be seen in a darker sky about 14 degrees in altitude at 7:00pm EDT.

October 15 - Tsuchinshan-ATLAS passes close to M5, the Rose Cluster, a globular cluster of stars. In a dark sky away from the light pollution of nearby cities. Binoculars should show the pair in the same field of view.

Each night the comet moves about 3 - 4 degrees higher and to the SW. It should remain visible until the end of the month. Those with small telescopes can follow it into November.

A great simulation by Nicolaus Lefaudeux (hdr-astrophotography) shows the anticipated two apparition highlights — the growth of an approximately15° dust tail and even longer gas tail from September 28th through October 2nd. When C/2023 A3 climbs away from the Sun in the evening sky, its dust tail will stretch about 10°, with a gas tail possibly as long as 40°! Viewing circumstances at dusk are also ideal for viewing the comet's anti-tail, which may rival that of Comet Arend-Roland in 1957.

More to come as we get closer to the end of September.

 

Green Flash

Green Flash by Nikita Misiura
© nekitmm

Nikita Misiura, a member of Astrobin, the service that hosts my Astro photos, has published an awesome picture of the famous (but illusive) green flash. I've never seen this phenomenon myself, let alone image it, but this is incredible. Hats off to you Nikita. He also received the Image of the Day (IOTD) award for his effort. Check out the details on his Astrobin page.

The Perseids are coming

The Perseid meteor shower is one of the most spectacular annual celestial events! This year, the Perseids will peak around the night of August 11th and the early hours of August 12th. During the peak, you can expect to see up to 100 meteors per hour under ideal conditions. 

So, what are 'ideal' conditions?

Most important is to find a dark spot. Try to get away from city lights to a location with minimal light pollution. Look towards the constellation Perseus. The meteors will appear to radiate from this area in the sky. The chart below gives you an idea on where the meteors will appear to be coming from, but they can appear anywhere in the sky. After midnight is best as the radiant rises higher in the sky.

Radiant point is about 28° high in the NE at
midnight on the 12th of August for observers
at 40° N latitude

Be patient. Give your eyes time to adjust to the darkness and bring a blanket or chair to stay comfortable. Let me know how many you see.

AP Mount back in action

Saturday, I reported a situation with my telescope mount controller. It appeared to be dead-in-the-water and I was set to return it to the manufacturer for a repair visit.

Late Saturday I got some correspondence from the wonderful folks at Astro-Physics. They had a conversation about my problem and one of the engineers recommended that I remove the cover of the control box and check to see if the main circuit board has loosened itself from its connection slot. They sent me detailed instructions and gave me the OK to try the fix. 

It turned out that the board was indeed loose, and so I reseated it and closed up the box. It solved my problem! I now have USB, Ethernet and WiFi communication working again. It's a good day when a simple, end user, no cost fix solves a big problem. Cudos to AP for thinking this one out.

Soldiers Delight Star Party Lecture - August 17

The Cosmic Distance Scale: A Journey Across the Universe

Ever wondered how astronomers determine the distances to the planets, stars and galaxies? Then why not stop by the Soldiers Delight Visitor Center at 5100 Deer Park Rd., Owings Mills, MD 21117, August 17, at 8:00pm. I am the host for these events which are scheduled for the third Saturday of each month - April through October. Each month I present a 'down-to-earth' presentation based on some specific area of Astronomy and Space. Presentations can be fairly detailed (to keep the adults interested), but I always try to make sure everyone learns something. And yes, they are kid-friendly, and frequently include a hands-on fun project (to keep the younger crowd happy too). As a bonus, if the sky is clear, telescopes are usually set-up to observe something after the lecture. 

August's Topic:  "The Cosmic Distance Scale: A Journey Across the Universe"

Join us for an enlightening voyage through the vastness of space! Our stellar navigators will unravel the secrets of cosmic distances, allowing us to piece together the fabric of the universe. 

We’ll start close to home, measuring the astronomical unit (AU) within our Solar System. Then, step by step, we’ll extend our reach into the cosmic expanse. Learn how astronomers use parallax—the apparent shift in a star’s position—to measure distances to nearby stars. Ground-based parallaxes reveal secrets up to 100 parsecs away, while the Hipparcos mission extends our cosmic tape measure to 1000 parsecs.

Sometimes, we can’t rely on geometry alone. Enter the “standard candles”—objects whose luminosities we know. By comparing their apparent brightness to their true luminosity, we unlock distances to galaxies and quasars. It’s like pulling ourselves up by cosmic bootstraps!

These distances form the foundation for understanding our universe’s past, present, and future. From the expanding cosmos to the birth of stars, we’ll explore it all.

Buckle up, stargazers! Reserve your seat for this cosmic odyssey.

All programs are Rain or Shine. Time machines will be provided by the Westminster Astronomy Club.

Specific details can be found at Night Sky Network.

A Parody of Errors

Back on June 21, 2024, I setup the telescope and powered everything up ready to do some visual astronomy for a change. The sky was quite clear for a summer evening and the temperature was bearable. Astrophotography is my love, but every now and then looking through the Edge11 with an eyepiece at double stars and the planets is very satisfying. I was set - so, you know where this is going, right?

I was unable to remotely connect to my NUC on the pier. And without the connection, I can't move the scope (I don't own a handset). Then, the clouds showed up, so I decided to pack up and check out the NUC later in the week. 

It wasn't until returning from our trip to Iceland in late June-early July that I got the NUC communicating remotely on my network again. It was a setting, of course, that somehow got changed. Ok, great, now it was time to wait yet again for a clear night. Got one on July 27.

First, I updated my imaging software since the new version was released and I wanted to check it out. Then, powerup the system and ... "Hello mount - why are you connecting to the NUC?" Spent all night trying to diagnose what was wrong. The USB port appeared to be dead. Not a problem, connect via ethernet - no go. Try WiFI - no go. Argh - shut everything down; diagnose the issue the next day.

Spend the next day re-installing windows and rebuilding my NUC thinking the problem was a corrupt operating system environment. But that wasn't it.

After many email exchanges with Astro-Physics, the manufacturer/vendor of my mount and control box, we determined the USB port was probably bad, but I was able to get the ethernet and WiFi connection working. Had to buy a LAN splitter to send the network connection to both NUC and mount control box, but that arrived the very next day from Amazon (love Amazon). Tested everything in my workshop before re-installing everything at the pier. Lookin' good.

Yesterday I setup the telescope ready to complete the installation of the new software on the rebuilt NUC and test out the telescope. The control box refused to connect! Not by ethernet or WiFi. Ah, a broken power supply connection. Fixed that and tried again. Nope! No connection.

Bring everything into the cool workshop and try to determine what's going on - it was working a few days ago. After 3 hours, I gave up. It seems that possibly whatever caused the USB port to die has now infected the remaining connection paths.

Next step - return the control box to Astro-Physics and have them take a look at it. Want a bet we have the longest string of clear nights while my control box is being repaired? Ha.