Comet C/2023 A3

In 2023 and 2024, comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS C/2023 A3 passed through the inner solar system and could be seen from the southern and later from the northern hemisphere.

I didn't have a good digital camera at the time, so I didn't even try to take pictures. But a good friend of mine, Wolfgang Tubis, dared to make several attempts.

I edited his pictures with my limited GIMP skills, sometimes quite heavily, in order to dim the background light of the well-lit Cologne in the best possible way.

Wednesday 16th October

The comet stood in the days deep in the west in the constellation Serpens, to the right of Ophiuchi.

The Poller Wiesen, a flat area on Cologne's Schäl Sick (right side of the Rhine river), with an unobstructed view to the west, offered itself as the location for the shot.

In the photos the South Bridge is visible on the left, the Kölner Dom is a 60-degree pan to the right outside the picture. Light cloud streaks spoiled the view a bit, otherwise the field of view was clear.

Saturday 19th October

The same location, only this time the weather luck was not on his side, a persistent cloud cover lay over the city.

He sent me a photo as proof of work and broke it off early. As I was able to find out during post-processing, he had actually caught the comet, top left of the picture.

Tuesday 22th October

Last attempt, as the comet set earlier and thus stood lower after dusk. Almost the same location, just a few hundred meters further north.

Conclusion

Although he was not so enthusiastic about the pictures, I think they are very well done. Let's not forget, the location was Cologne, in the middle of it, with a view over the city center.

Especially when compared to the photographs I took of Hale-Bopp above Cologne in 1997, his pics are almost crystal clear. I had more experience, the comet was much brighter, but it was an analog camera (Nikon F-90 X), I couldn't get much more out of it.

My conclusion: Wolfgang, good job.

In retrospect, when looking at the pictures, how long the tail was to be photographed here in Cologne ...
Damn, we should have dared a trip to the Eifel.