Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) | TheSkyLive (2024)

Altitude: -36.5°Azimuth: 25.3°Direction: North-North-East

Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) was discovered by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) on 22 February 2023 and it was also independently observed few weeks before in January 2023 at the Tsuchinshan Chinese Observatory (Purple Mountain Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences). The official designation includes both Tsuchinshan and ATLAS due to these independent observations.Its retrograde orbit, meaning it moves in the opposite direction to most major solar system objects, is parabolic-like with a perihelion distance of 0.39 astronomical units (AU).Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) is notable and actively observed because, based on current estimations, it is could become bright enough to be visible to the naked eye during its perihelion passage between September and October 2024.

Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) is currently in the constellation of Virgo,at a distance of 271,328,092 kilometers from Earth.

The current Right Ascension of Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) is 13h 22m 05s and the Declination is -00° 46’ 08” (topocentric coordinatescomputed for the selected location: Greenwich, United Kingdom).The current estimated magnitude of Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) is 11.55 (JPL) while the latest observed magnitude is 10.1 (COBS).

The observed values of Magnitude,Coma Diameter and Tail Length are derived from the most recent observation recorded at the Comet Observers Database. The value of Predicted Magnitudecomes from the JPL Horizons ephemerides service and, in the case of comets, might beinaccurate given the highly dynamic and unpredictablebehavior of these objects. When available, please refer to the Observed Magnitude value and consider the Predicted Magnitude as adirectional indication. We acknowledge with thanks the comet observations from the COBS Comet ObservationDatabase contributed by observers worldwide and used in this table toreport recent comet observations.

Today's rise,transit and set times ofComet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) fromGreenwich, United Kingdom (all times relative to the local timezone Europe/London):

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Higher precision deep sky finder chart, 60 arcmin wide, showing where Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) is right now.Click on the image to see a more detailed fullscreen tracker view.

Also check out Where is Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS)?,a page that provides all the information needed to find Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) in the sky and additional links to sky charts.

The distance of Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) from Earth is currently 271,328,092 kilometers,equivalent to 1.813716 Astronomical Units.Light takes15 minutes and 5.0531 seconds to travel from Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) and arrive to us.

The following chart shows the distance of Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) from Earth as a function of time.In the chart the distance data is measured in Astronomical Units and sampled with an interval of 1 day.

The value of the reported distance might be somewhat inaccurate around the times of closest approach for objects passing extremely close to Earth.The value of the distance of C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) from Earth is also available as a real time updated value in theLive Position and Data Tracker.

Between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2099,the closest approach ofComet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) to Earth happens on Sun Oct 13 2024 at a distance of 0.476126 Astronomical Units, or71,227,371 kilometers:

NOTE: values for the closest approach are computedwith a sampling interval of 1 day.

The following chart is the predicted light curve(visual magnitude as a function of time) of Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS),according to the most recent ephemerides data. Magnitude data is sampled with a 2 days interval and there might be inaccuraciesfor objects changing brightness very rapidly during the course of a few days. For comets there could be large discrepanciesbetween the observed and predicted brightness because of their highly dynamic behaviour.

This 3d orbit diagram is a feature of our 3D Solar System Simulator and showsthe orbit of Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) with respect of the Sun and the orbits of the major planets.The position of Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) and the planets along their orbits in this diagram accurately represents the current configurationof the objects in the Solar System.This is an experimental feature and it requires a WebGL enabled browser. Please provide us feedback!

The following table lists the ephemerides of Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) computed for the past and next 7 days, with a 24 hours interval.Click on each row of the table to locate Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) in our Online Planetariumat the chosen date.