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Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) was a surprise guest to our solar system in October 2024. The comet was first spotted by the Purple Mountain Observatory in China on January 9, 2023, and independently by ATLAS in South Africa on February 22, 2023. What makes this image so special is that this is of a long-period comet, meaning its orbital period around the Sun is very long, potentially tens of thousands of years. Needless to say, the only way anyone alive today can see it now is through photos taken of it as it passed Earth.
Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) was a surprise guest to our solar system in October 2024. The comet was first spotted by the Purple Mountain Observatory in China on January 9, 2023, and independently by ATLAS in South Africa on February 22, 2023. What makes this image so special is that this is of a long-period comet, meaning its orbital period around the Sun is very long, potentially tens of thousands of years. Needless to say, the only way anyone alive today can see it now is through photos taken of it as it passed Earth.