APOD: 2024 September 23 – Comet Tsuchinshan ATLAS Approaches

Good morning, Rallypoint, and welcome to the September 23rd edition of Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD). Did you know that we might have a new comet to enjoy this fall? C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) is a comet from the Oort cloud discovered by the Purple Mountain Observatory on January 9, 2023 and independently found by the Asteroid Terristrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) South African observatory on February 22, 2023. ATLAS is a robotic astronomical survey and early warning system optimized for detecting smaller near-Earth objects a few weeks to days before they impact Earth. Funded by NASA, and developed and operated by the University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy, the system currently has four 0.5-meter telescopes. The other three are located in Hawai'i and Chilé.

So when (and where) can you see the comet? I'll post a complete calendar in a separate comment. For us Northern Hemisphere dwellers, start looking on October 16th in west after sunset.