Three nights with Comet C/2023 A3

The vast majority of my images are taken during the light of day, but that doesn’t mean I do not enjoy the night. So when there was a chance to photograph a comet that hasn’t passed by Earth in 80,000 years, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity.

Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) was discovered in early 2023 by astronomers using telescopes at the Tsuchinshan Observatory in China and the ATLAS survey using a reflector in South Africa. At the time, it was nearly 700 million miles from the sun and already showing a tail. It made its closest approach to the sun at the end of last month, and became the brightest comet to grace our night sky in 27 years.

Chasing Comet NEOWISE

Normally when a photography project takes up a month of my time, I’ve spent many more months planning it. But my July photo project came as a complete surprise.

Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) put on a spectacular display for most of the month — the brightest comet to be visible in the Northern Hemisphere in more than 13 years. Given its magnificence, you might think there would have been plenty of advance notice. Even though I track comets, I had heard of it only the day before I headed out to photograph it for the first time.