Experience the Spectacular Tsuchinshan-ATLAS Comet: Join Us for a Free Viewing Event This Autumn!

Evening view Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS

We would like to invite you to come and see the beautiful Tsuchinshan ATLAS‘.

Do you still remember it? On February 22, 2023, the ATLAS telescope in South Africa discovered a new faint object. It quickly became clear that it was a comet.

In the following months, there was much speculation about the future brightness of this object. C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) would become the brightest comet in autumn 2024.

For a while, things seemed to be going wrong when, halfway through the year, there were signs that the comedy could be in danger of breaking up. But encouraging messages soon arrived. One more difficult moment: would the comet live through the perihelion passage?

At the end of September 2024, the comet was very much alive. And every amateur astronomer, and every observer, could prepare themselves for a unique sight in the starry sky.

Since October 12, comet C / 2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) has been visible in the Northern Hemisphere, so close to us.

Unfortunately, the weather hasn’t been great in the last few days, but things are expected to improve now and we want to make the most of that opportunity!

Click here for more information about this comet.

Plan

• Open from 7:30 p.m.
• Every 30 minutes there is an introduction to comets in general and comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) in particular.
• In clear weather: observe the comet between 7:30 pm and 9 pm in our observation tower.

Entrance fee: FREE (except planetarium and film performance – public performance tickets: 11 euros)

There are also two shows in the planetarium that night:

Take the members of Urania FREE share but they also need to book tickets. Members use their member discount code (communicated via member details) when purchasing tickets.

Urani member and astronomer Dirk Van Luyten took this beautiful picture on the evening of Tuesday, October 15 (although it came from the Netherlands, because it was unfortunately cloudy here).