What Makes a Comet GREAT? Feat. C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) ☄️

I photograph C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) that everyone is hoping will still shine bright vs the full moon that's coming during its peak brightness!
Early morning astronomy is hard, but sometimes like this - well worth it!
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[@richardhendrick5835]

Richard - Belgium.. never mind the comet...sharing this kind of time whit your son is the main image...😊

[@DylanODonnell]

I agree :)

[@diananggraini5981]

I also share this precious moment with my father, although his wallet gone after that 😅

[@richardmattas4003]

Halle-Bopp was pretty good in the north hemisphere...nice work Dylan!

[@danielpazman2627]

What a great thing! I think it's great that you took your boy out with you. I always do that with my boys too! I remember Neowise. We were camping and then he was in the sky ... those are the moments that make it all worthwhile. And as you say yourself, when the comet presents itself like that, you can't avoid it. Unfortunately we have a bad weather phase here, everything is covered in clouds. I hope it gets better in the next few days and we can take the opportunity ourselves. Greetings from Germany . Daniel

[@gary122]

Good one! Managed to get pictures on 22nd,24th, and this morning 2nd oct! Used 14mm, 50mm and 200mm. The nifty 50 framed it up beautifully this morning. Lovely in my 8x42 binos. Yeap mcnaught in 2007 was awesome. Couldn't fit it all in with my 18mm lens. I remember driving home seeing the tail halfway up the sky in front of me!

[@DylanODonnell]

Yeh it’s hard to explain it to people!

[@LogansAstro]

Great captures, made more special to be able to share the experience with family.

[@13_cmi]

If it peeks up over the horizon here I'll go for it and pull an all nighter. I would rather not do it during the week but I've missed every comet that's come around in the past 20 years so it's worth a shot.

[@Westlake]

Wonderful to share these moments with your son Dylan! Hale-Bopp was real good, missed out on Neowise, hope to catch Atlas. Still cloudy here in between Chuck and Trevor. Get better soon! :)

[@DylanODonnell]

Yeh it was pretty special!

[@jonrbryan]

Halley's was the length of my outstretched hand at 10,000 feet in New Mexico, backdropped by a brilliant Milky Way. I saw McNaught at sunset. It was a good visual comet, but about the length of the first joint of my thumb. Hale-Bopp was absolutely stunning, brilliant and huge. But Hyakutake a year later, directly overhead, must have subtended about 60 degrees, and remains my all-time favorite.

[@DylanODonnell]

Oh no, McNaught was huge!

[@jonrbryan]

@@DylanODonnell It certainly looks impressive in the pictures taken in Australia. Northern Hemisphere not so much. I wasn't into astronomy back then, either, so I probably missed its best.

[@johngiromini5745]

Dylan, your image is just beautiful!!. So happy to see you out with your son, even if the early hour ruined a thorough nights sleep. You and he will not soon forget this trip. I, and several other members of the Fort Worth Astronomical Society, have been attempting to capture this elusive comet. My attempts in a light polluted area were very sadly not fulfilled. However, one of our members farther west in light retarded area was much more fortunate. It is an amazing spotting.

[@DylanODonnell]

Thanks John! It was such a joy.

[@velaastro904]

What about hale-bopp?? Seeing that comment changed my young little life lol I’ll never forget looking up and just seeing this bright giant ball in the sky with this weird triangle shaped tail slowly moving across the sky

[@DylanODonnell]

Yep, Hale Bopp is considered great! -0.7 mag .. even better than Halleys in 1910.

[@velaastro904]

@@DylanODonnell can’t wait to see it return……in the year 4000….as a robot with my consciousness uploaded to it. My name shall be zorp and I will have cmos sensors for eyes

[@drunk_astronomy]

Did you know that the Heaven’s Gate cult left two of their members back here on earth to keep up their website? You can actually get books from them still check their website out in all of it’s 1990s glory!

[@andrewstevens7453]

I took some pics of that one, on colour slide 35mm. I'll have to get my pics converted to digital sometime

[@rosscayley8773]

yeah, but the spaceship hidden in the tail forgot to pick up all the Heavens-Gate members......which was a tragic waste of perfectly good Nike sneakers....

[@wesleydonnelly2141]

Awesome vid Dylan and your boy! What a true once in MANY lifetimes trip hey!? Priceless! 🙏 Mate I'm praying the UK's terrible weather doesn't prevent me from having a crack at imaging this Comet! 🤞 Thanks as always for the awesome content my friend! Wes, Liverpool, England.

[@DylanODonnell]

Thx Wes!

[@AnakChan]

Shot this yesterday (1st Oct) from Perth suburbs and light pollution makes a big difference on how much tail gets captured. Dark skies def reveal a longer tail than what I was able to capture. Will wait till it swings around the sun and see if I can capture it again in the evening over Rottnest Island.

[@DylanODonnell]

Love rotto! Yeh I’m getting about 9 degrees in my stacked shots but some people say more.

[@danbrown3234]

G’day big guy, this one hit my ears a few days ago, maybe worth a peek toward the end of October… C/2024 S1 (ATLAS). (Kreutz) 🤙🏻 Great video mate, glad to see you dragging the young fella out and sharing it with him ✌🏻

[@stefanschneider3681]

5 years ago when I just got int"o astrophotography comet Neowise was putting on it's show 😍. I would definitely call this a "great comet" 🤩!! Thx for another fun little video 👍

[@bb001a]

Comet Hyakutake was the best I've ever seen, a faint wispy gossamer veil across half the sky,

[@DylanODonnell]

Nice !

[@keeplookingup911]

No comet can beat the apparent magnitude of comet Halle Bopp. In year 1998 i remember i could see the tail of the comet with naked eye, even though i had poor eye sight.

[@NevadaDesertSkies]

Great video Dylan. Nothing more important than quality time with the boy. For me, Halley's comet was my first in March of 1986. I took what I consider to be my first real astrophoto of it. Was it impressive? NO. Now fast forward to March 1996 and I was able to see Hyakutake naked eye from downtown New Orleans! That was a spectacular comet and for me, the best I have ever seen. Unfortunately, in 1996 I didn't own a camera!

[@DylanODonnell]

The hyakutake mag looks impressive! That was back before digital stacking had really taken hold .. we’ve come a long way with cameras. Was really hard to even find a decent Halley’s example.

[@NevadaDesertSkies]

@@DylanODonnell I'll be 96 when Halley's returns in 2061 so hopefully I'll still be around to see it twice.

[@pompeymonkey3271]

You lucky, lucy git! :) Thanks for sharing you family experience!

[@DylanODonnell]

Hehe thx !

[@lstoian2121]

great to see that you involve your kid in this astro-stuff! clear sky mate!

[@DylanODonnell]

We love hanging out :) definitely very special.

[@craig_hills]

That shirt and that sign off 👌

[@laughingnimbus]

Perhaps "Zi - Jin - Shan" is easier to pronounce lol. "Tsu-chin-shan" is an older chinese transliteration. Great capture ☄

[@DylanODonnell]

haha yeh I'm struggling .. thx

[@weepingtimel8970]

I was actually in Kingscliff last week shooting the comet from Hasting Point Lookout. Wonderful spot except for the three days of rain during perihilion days. First ever comet and astrophotography target I've ever shot.

[@billkonkel6325]

I’m old enough to have seen both Comet Kohoutek in 1973 and then just 3 years later, Comet West. Both were remarkable to the naked eye.

[@DylanODonnell]

Amazing !

[@bofblog]

Nice image and good experience to share with your son..a special time..also second Comet incoming towards the end of October too

[@DylanODonnell]

Yeh I have my eye on this new one.. looks promising!

[@user-ku4yk4ut4z]

Here on Maui I will say that this is a GREAT comet very easy to spot naked eye with a Massive split tail ...Even my I phone phoots are great of this comet!!!

[@Stefan1368]

Looks fantastic in binoculars

[@davidgonzalezmartinez38]

Congrats for your video

[@johnmcbryde715]

luv the wooly hat, should do a StarStuff one.

[@Grabacr]

Nice work! Here in Puerto Rico I have been able to photograph it see it with the naked eye this past few days. Hoping it continues to get better

[@DylanODonnell]

Yeh will get worse near the sun but hopefully better when it comes out of it :)

[@blobrana8515]

Superb

[@KevinRudd-w8s]

Some nice images there Dylan. I was in the merchant navy during the eighties and nineties so saw Halleys Comet and Hyuakutake and Hale Bopp from some verry dark skies. I remember being underwhelmed by Halleys ☄️ but the other two were pretty awesome. Hale Bopp put in a good show in the UK too, easily visible from my bortle five skies. I couldn't see Neowise in the evening twilight the other year with the naked eye though I did capture some images. I did see the so called "Green Comet" ( thought they were nearly all green ) at the start of 2023 for a couple of nights, well overhyped by the UK media but I did capture some images between December 2022 and February 2023. Naked eye wise it was just a faint fussy blob, not very spectacular at all. Here's hoping for clear skies when/if Atlas survives its encounter with the sun and hopefully lights up the twilight sky

[@DylanODonnell]

Yeh those comets sounds awesome!

[@zoeorriss192]

What a precious memory made for you both! Doubt I'll be able to drag my teenage son out of bed for it but I'm gonna try!

[@DylanODonnell]

Must be nice having kids that sleep in tho :)

[@zoeorriss192]

​@@DylanODonnellHahaha yea it's like a reward for all those years of ridiculously early mornings.

[@karyleianawildernesscapes]

The "great comet", in my lifetime, was Neowise. I'll never forget when I first saw it after sunset cresting over the distant Pali 🤯...after that I was hooked & have been chasing every comet since lol! I got ZTF & Nishimura. The last one, Pons-Brooks was bust for me...living in the Wettest Spot in the World has its disadvantages 😅. Currently having the same issue at sunrise for A3, but I continue to try & I'm HOPING that once it becomes a SUNSET comet & in the west (our dry side), I'll have better luck. It just needs to keep strong.

[@ceejay0137]

For us in the northern hemisphere, Hyakutake and Hale-Bopp were exceptionally good. I remember McNaught as well: by the time the sky was dark enough the head had already set, but the tail was still visible for a while, looking like a _curved_ searchlight beam pointing up above the western horizon. That was before perihelion, though: you guys in the south got the full effect later on!

[@DylanODonnell]

Looking at the list I think the McNaught event might’ve been a once in 1000 years thing.. maybe 10,000 years. I was truly floored.

[@craiglowery4427]

Wow I enjoyed seeing your son and a glimpse into your lives. Was your final image stacked?

[@carlmcneill1139]

You don't look old enough to have been around when Hailey's comet came through. I was in my early teens. My dad bought me Hailey's comet edition Tasco telescope to see it but I never saw it. I didn't know where to find it. I still have the telescope. I remember the Hale-Bopp comet though. That was the brightest one I've ever seen. You could see it with the naked eye easily.

[@joshmccollumastrophotography]

My skies won’t be able to image the comet until late October, but I can’t wait to see what my C11 can see in its core!

[@DylanODonnell]

Yeh the early shot was pretty cool with the c11 .. they should be easier to do as it fades again :)

[@dumpydalekobservatory]

I've gotta say Hale Bopp back in 97 was a bloody awesome sight it seemed to hang around for ages & was probably the best naked eye comet I've ever seen. I was around when Haleys comet was around to but I were to interested in drinking back then lol. Neowise was pretty cool but wasn't around very long but it's always good to hope for another comet to put on a show. Congrats on capturing ............ Atlas (I'm not even going to try & types it let alone say it lol)

[@DylanODonnell]

Hehe glad to know it’s not just me. Hale boop sounds incredible.

[@dumpydalekobservatory]

It was mate I do have a photo that an old workmate took on 35mm film but it doesn't do it any justice, nice that he gave me a copy for the memory though.

[@joeshmoe7967]

Nights clear, but mornings clouded out here in western Canada. Tomorrow morning probably last chance for mornings, then Oct 12 for early evening. Really hope to see it and get a few pictures. Hale-Bopp is King for me, but Neowise was pretty great. I would call your shot, very decent. I don't think it will obtain 'great' status. Seems lately every comet is the 'comet of the century'. Looking forward to another decent comet come January, C/2024 G3. I got shots of the 'green' (Media is too funny) comet as well as a few other distant ones. Cool thing is although not spectacular, many of the recent comets, such as Neowise, are still photographable. Sure they are jsut little green dots, but just being out and get images of the night sky is cool. When you look closer and it is a tiny comet or galaxy, totally worth the time and drive. I don't mind 3:30am for astro, when it means I have been out all night and heading home. Not as enthused, heading out at that time to catch a morning maybe. At least at night, if a maybe turns into nothing, there is still a whole sky of stuff. I always throw my 70mm binoculars in, and grab a glance at M31 and such. - Cheers

[@chamithathukorala1985]

Get Well Zoon mr D O D

[@keithhanssen7413]

I think you need to do a video on cable management, specifically on your own desk 😃

[@DylanODonnell]

Haha!

[@AceBadguy72]

Here in Kansas , USA , Lat 39 °, I had my first sighting of Atlas at 6 : 55 am CDT on Monday 9-29-24 . It's a very difficult object to see , had to use averted vision through 10 X 50 binoculars . It vanished quickly after a couple of minutes as twilight brightened . Definitely not a naked eye comet yet . We had some clouds today on Oct 1 but the rest of the week should be dry and clear and I'm looking forward to using my telescope . I guess people in the southern US are having much better views .

[@DylanODonnell]

Yeh we haven’t had a truly naked eye comet on this hemisphere for years and years, this has been the best for a long while.

[@pricey4566]

I saw Halleys comet when i was 20 from Mum's bedroom window in Coolangatta looking NE one early morning back in the day was i impressed ? yea i thought it was pretty cool would like to get up early and see this comet but getting a good pic is probably beyond my DSLR capability none the less I'll give it a crack ✌

[@AstroBenni]

poor sick guy 😘

[@roderickwho1983]

A great comet ? Ask the dinosaurs ! Oh wait: wasn't that a meteor ? Anyway. Smashing video as always.

[@DylanODonnell]

If only they had cameras! They coulda got APOD.

[@dumpydalekobservatory]

@@DylanODonnell A Trex wouldn't be able to hold a camera with their puny arms lol

[@DylanODonnell]

@@dumpydalekobservatory Average Seestar user :)

[@dumpydalekobservatory]

@@DylanODonnell 🤣

[@soperin1]

I'll be waking up early on Wednesday to see if the clouds have moved on in an attempt to capture it from home!

[@DylanODonnell]

Good luck! Its get dim vs the sun now

[@1.4142]

A newly discovered comet, C/2024 S1 may become as bright as venus around October 28!

[@amritseecharan848]

Hi, this morning I saw it easily with the tail

[@DylanODonnell]

Nice !

[@russellmm]

I tried to go out and see it a few days ago here in the Pacific Northwest (USA) and was unable to. I am hoping if it survives the sun I can see it in the Western Sky around Oct 20th.

[@DylanODonnell]

Yeh fingers crossed !

[@thomastarner8683]

What foot do you use on your accelerator peddle when driving you backwards steering car. Love your videos BTW. 😉

[@seanhampson4126]

Tried to see/capture it this morning from Colorado. Unfortunately I mistook the edge of the almost new moon for it.

[@DylanODonnell]

Oh no !

[@astroazores]

It's a nice comet, but not as much as the media are making it. The best thing about the video, is knowing that kid just created a core memory and one day he will remember that his dad, that old fart, made him wake up at three in the morning to see a comet.

[@DylanODonnell]

Haha that’s so true.

[@ananoani13]

Quarcs is not ready but the old way still works with zwo lol

[@chamallowgrille2493]

I woke up at 6am for shooting it , but located in france, the commet was like 15° near to the sun so, even with my camera, it was inpossible to see it, ill wait 15 more days

[@DylanODonnell]

Yep fingers crossed !

[@kevinashley478]

EDIT: Super Comets...with an S..you wanna imagine something mindblowing?? Look up super comets... The descriptions are INSANE. There was a description of one, where it said the tail took up over half the night sky... Of course it was before cameras..i think.

[@RaulMartinez-pq5in]

It’s not comet atlas, its comet Tsuchinshan, the Chinese saw it first, South Africa ATLAS saw it about a week later

[@DylanODonnell]

Do you know why they hyphenated the designation?

[@vault-tecrep8565]

Dylan what is your thoughts on Comet a11bP7I ? Apparently if we're lucky it could get to -7 magnitude

[@DylanODonnell]

I was seeing predictions of less than that, but we can dream :) Anything around Venus’ brightness is well into “great” territory. Fingers crossed!

[@davidgonzalezmartinez38]

What software do you use to show the solar system with the comet! Thanks

[@ThePred2009]

What settings do I need to use on my Canon 6d I want to try to look for in tommorow morning

[@CraftTasticAnimations]

Whoa whoa whoa.. slow down. HALE BOPP was twice as brighter and twice as good maybe more than McNaught

[@DylanODonnell]

Hehe not even close! McNaught was orders of magnitude brighter!

[@alainmaury5941]

@@DylanODonnell But Hyakutake was a lot more impressive, filling a quarter of the sky... (but yes Mc Naught was really cool). How did you manage to shoot the comet and have no satellite trails. It's our business to show that some idiots are destroying the sky, and we have to show these satellites... I don't know if I can put a link in the comments, but I have made time lapses of this comet in the last week and there are hundreds of these pests on my images. :( If possible I can give you the link.

[@DylanODonnell]

@@alainmaury5941 I guess (both of us) had to be there :) There are sat trails.. you can see them very prominent in the horizon images as they reflect the sun quite prominently in the dark during sunrise. They even show through the stacking. But as the comet gets higher they disappear in the stack as they compete with the sunlight. no manual removal.

[@TheWonkyAstronomer]

@@alainmaury5941 I got plenty of trails: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nJ65Zp-faMtpr9E

[@TexasEngineerScotty]

Then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked...

[@DylanODonnell]

Hehe

[@cryptonite8495]

So how far is Atlas from Earth? I wonder what kind of images JWST got.

[@DylanODonnell]

0.741146 AU right now

[@Mr77pro]

Ditched the lab coat for a black beanie? Come on man, you're no gangster!😅😅

[@DylanODonnell]

I'm SICK! PITY ME!

[@BrianPellerin]

Jesus made all things ❤

[@PingpongPoof-c3r]

D

[@michaelprosser4660]

Dylan, I love you, but I have to admit that I'm disappointed you drive a Tesla haha... (Coming from an astrophotographer and also lifelong car enthusiast that can't stand Tesla corner cutting and Elon over promising and under delivering)

[@Cheapass-tro]

NOOOOOOO! You said "3:30 AM in the morning".