Right Time, Right Place
It was serendipity. The time was the early evening of October 26. The place was the Rimrocks Toadstools, a grouping of fascinating hoodoos, mushroom rocks, and rock towers near Big Water, Utah. The sky was dark and there were almost no clouds.
The reward was spotting a comet. Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS was making a close approach to Earth after rounding the sun earlier in the month. It was discovered in 2023 by observers at the Purple Mountain (Tsuchinshan) Observatory in China and an Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) telescope in South Africa.
This snowy dirtball is nearly 2 miles in diameter with a tail of dust and gas extending for tens of millions of miles. The last time it visited Earth was 800 centuries ago.
Tsuchinshan-ATLAS originated from the Oort Cloud. The Cloud is a spherical shell 0.03 to 3.2 light-years from the sun filled with billions of icy planetesimals. You can appreciate the size of the Oort Cloud compared to the solar system below.
From starwalk.com
Every so often, a planetesimal is dislodged towards the sun by the gravitational pulls of both passing stars and the Milky Way. As it gets closer to the sun, it heats up and develops tails of dust and gas observed by comet watchers around the world.
If a comet isn’t consumed and destroyed during its close approach to the Sun, it generally returns. Since I don’t plan on being here in the year 2824, this was going to be my only chance to see and photograph Tsuchinshan-ATLAS.
Naked eye visible comets aren’t common. I’ve been fortunate to view comets Hale-Bopp and Neowise. Witnessing a third comet in my lifetime would be a godsend.
The Shot
I belong to Photogenesis, the Naperville Camera Club. It’s called the “fun” camera club due to the camaraderie and its collaborative culture.
Scott Fuller and Steve Horne are friends from the club. Scott and I recently decided to fly to Steve’s new home in Utah and join him for a week-long Utah adventure.
It was a long flight from Chicago to St. George, Utah for Scott and me. And then we had hours of driving with Steve to reach our first photo location at the Rimrocks Hoodoos.
We photographed sunset amongst the hoodoos. Even though we were exhausted, chilly, and hungry, the allure of night photography kept us energized. We began scouting for Milky Way nightscape compositions.
Knowing the comet would be visible near Venus for a short while after sunset, I kept my eyes peeled. I was overjoyed when I spotted it and shared the news with Scott and Steve.
We frantically took images as the comet rose and gradually dimmed in the night sky. This was my favorite. After a round of high fives, we departed for a warm car, dinner, and a night’s sleep.
Thanks for looking,
Chuck Derus