C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS)
Type: Hyperbolic
Perihelion date: 27 September 2024
Perihelion distance (q): 0.4
Aphelion distance (Q) : n/a
Period (years): n/a
Eccentricity (e): 1.0
Inclination (i): 139.1
JPL orbit diagram
COBS lightcurve
The ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) team discovered an 18th
magnitude asteroidal object in images taken with the 0.5 m Schmidt at Sutherland,
South Africa on 22 February 2023. Pre-discovery observations by ZTF were found
from 22 December 2022 to be found.
The comet could become a visual telescopic object in February 2024 and will still be
a telescopic object for UK observers when lost in the summer twilight in June. If
SOHO is still operational it will pass through the C3 field as a bright object between
about 6 and 12 October. It quickly emerges into the evening sky, when it could be an
easily visible object with a tail. It could remain a binocular object into December and
a telescopic object into 2025.
The comet could turn out to be a small one and disintegrate at perihelion.
Observations (VEMag = visual equivalent magnitude)
Date
10x10 mag
Error
VEmag
Coma '
1-Mar-23
17.9
0.4
16-Mar-23
17.8
0.4
24-Mar-23
17.6
0.4
29-Mar-23
17.5
0.4
13-Apr-23
17.18
0.06
17.2
0.4
23-Apr-23
17.1
0.4
24-Apr-23
17.3
0.4
29-Apr-23
17.0
0.4
17-May-23
17.5
0.4
22-May-23
16.9
0.4
26-May-23
17.0
0.4
08-Jun-23
16.8
0.4
19-Jun-23
16.7
0.4
17-Jul-23
16.7
0.4
02-Aug-23
16.8
0.4
07-Aug-23
16.4
0.4
18-Aug-23
16.5
0.4