photo by Dawid Barteczko Comet C-2023 A3 – the weather is favorable for observation
The comet visible just after sunset is an undoubted attraction in the autumn sky.
Before it moves away from Earth, it is worth looking at and capturing this object in a photo
– adds Dawid Barteczko
Dawid Barteczko: A gem among the last dozen or so years. Of the observations I remember, this one is the clearest. There were several candidates for us to admire such comets, but unfortunately they did not survive the encounter with the Sun. That’s why this is a very unique phenomenon. And since we have forecasts for very good weather for the next few days, it’s worth taking advantage of it, because you don’t need any equipment, and you can observe such a comet just after sunset, looking towards the west.
7 p.m. is the time when you can easily catch it with the naked eye. You can also try to take a photo, for example with a smartphone. It should be easily captured in the frame, exposed and have a nice souvenir. Both from observations and in the form of photos.
For the next three evenings, Astro Hunters invite you to observe the comet together, they will have not only professional equipment, but also a huge dose of knowledge.
Dawid Barteczko: We came up with a small tour so that this comet could also be observed using astronomical equipment in our region. So today (October 16) we invite you to the viewing platform in Pobierzeń, where we will be setting up with the equipment around 7 p.m. Tomorrow (17/10) we invite you to the observation tower at the historic Ignacy mine in Rybnik.
On Friday (18/10), as a little summary, we invite you to Czernica at AstroLab at 7 p.m., where we will first make a film-like introduction to what we observe, where comets come from and what they really are. And then we will go out into the yard and try to observe it, photograph it, take a souvenir photo. We also invite you to participate in these events on the next three evenings, because this is a situation that may not happen again soon.
And what is the comet itself?
Dawid Barteczko: In a nutshell, comets are frozen large snowballs several or a dozen or so kilometers long, which, as they approach the sun, simply begin to spread out on their way, and as they melt, they release both gases and dust from their interior. And they just shine, the sun illuminates them, they lose their braid and shine with beautiful tails. The name of the comet itself comes from Latin, which means long-haired, so they look exactly like a head with long hair. Something beautiful. I think that you don’t even have to be interested in space to try to hunt for such astronomical objects.
The comet is already moving away from the Earth, currently, as Barteczko says, it is about 75 million kilometers away from us.
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