The Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-Atlas)

The comet likely originates from the Ort cloud due to its highly elongated orbit. It was discovered in 2023 as it approached the inner solar system, and was simultaneously recorded by astronomers at the Tsuchinshan Observatory in China and the ATLAS system in South Africa. The comet had its closest approach to the Sun on September 27/2024, at a distance of 0.391 A.U , and passed 0.938472 A.U from Earth on October 12/2024. Initially some astronomers thought that the comet would not survive the encounter with the Sun, as happened with Comet ISON in 2013, but fortunately these predictions did not come true . The comet acquired greater brightness than estimated by some astronomers, and could be observed with the naked eye. The physical-chemical activity of the comet when it approached the sun was great, which is why it was dubbed by some media as the “Comet of the Century”. On October 10, when the comet was located between the Earth and the Sun, its brightness increased considerably, and it had a total apparent magnitude m=-4.9. Unfortunately on that date, in Colombia it was below the horizon. The comet is currently moving away from the sun and its orbit is open, as can be seen in the orbital parameters that I calculated based on several astrometric observations.

I observed the comet from September 23/2024 to November 25/2024. Stages of observation of the comet: a) I took several photos at dawn with a professional Canon camera from my house located in the city of Pasto -Nariño-Colombia (1.213611° N, 77.281111° W, 2527 meters above sea level). Date: September 23/2024. b) At dawn and from the Astronomical Observatory of the University of Nariño (located in the same city), when the height of the comet with respect to the horizon increased. Dates: September 24 to 27/2024. c) At dusk ,from the town of Chachaguí, near Pasto, (1.4269° N, 77.2891° W, 1900 meters above sea level ), since the comet was at low altitude in the area "covered" by the Galeras - Pasto volcano. I took photos with a professional Canon camera. Dates: October 13 and 14/2024.  d) At dusk from the Astronomical Observatory of the University of Nariño, when the height of the comet was already adequate. Dates: October 15 to November 25/2024. From our Observatory, located in Pasto-Colombia, I captured several pictures and videos during two months. I made photometry and astrometry measurements of the comet. The images of the asteroid were captured with the following equipment: CGE PRO 1400 CELESTRON (f/11 Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope) and STL-1001 SBIG camera. I also used a professional Canon EOS 20D camera.

Conclusions: I obtained the following orbital parameters of the comet: eccentricity = 1.0009999, orbital inclination = 139.1204°, longitude of the ascending node = 21.56338°, argument of perihelion = 308.48555°, perihelion distance = 0.39098645 A.U. The parameters were calculated with RMS error = 0.210 arc seconds. The light curve of the comet was also designed.