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Spreading a Luxurious Tail Across the Sky: The Brightest Comet in 13 Years Caught in the Lenses of Photographers in Russian Regions
Comet C/2023 AZ (with the compound name Zijinshan-ATLAS) was discovered by Chinese astronomers about a year ago. Two facts make this product unique. Firstly, this "tail guest" is considered the brightest comet in the last 13 years. Secondly, it is very rare. It takes more than 80,000 years to complete one revolution around the Sun. This means that you will only be able to see it once in your life. And there is still a chance. Until October 19, the comet will be visible in the sky, but gradually it will lose brightness and rise higher above the horizon, and already on October 20 it can only be admired through a telescope.
Filipp Romanov from Vladivostok was the first to see the comet without special equipment. He added that the sighting was impressive with its clearly defined middle part, compact crust and rather protruding tail.
Photographer Alexey Polyakov took the photo after sunset on October 13 near the village of Kolyvan, 70 km from Novosibirsk.
“The comet was clearly visible to the naked eye and even to the small children who took part in our observations.”
But Perm photographer Sergei Boldenkov carefully prepared for the shoot.
"If you don't know where the comet will appear in the sky, it will be very difficult to find it. We used the stellarium.org service to calculate where the comet will appear. Visually, it moves like all the stars in the sky. I didn't prepare any special equipment, but went to the Kama embankment with a tripod and a camera and took pictures. "Especially as a person interested in space, I had a very positive impression."
Residents of the Nizhny Novgorod region were among the first to take pictures of the comet during its closest approach to Earth on October 12. Nizhny Novgorod resident Yuri Zaitsev shared impressive shots taken in the Bykovy Mountains, located near the village of Spasskoye.
"You can see it in Spasskoye until about October 22. Armed with binoculars, telescopes and cameras, start exploring the western horizon at 18:00. The star Arcturus will be your guide."
It took comet hunters just 15 minutes to capture the mysterious guest in the sky on camera.
"We also captured the comet Zijinshan ATLAS!" - said the scientific director of the Nizhny Novgorod observatory "Ka-Dar" and astronomer Stanislav Korotkiy from the "Astroverts" club. - Finally, thanks to the evening sky and clouds, we can now see the comet even in the dark sky and in Arkiz! When the comet appeared in the clouds, I was amazed by the size of its angle! Enough to fit 12 full moon disks (6 degrees) from head to tail! And it was visible to the naked eye."
Stanislav started filming only after all the guests of the Astronomical Farm had seen the spectacle in full through the telescope. As a result, the comet's head could not be photographed, but the magnificent tail of the comet was visible behind the clouds for several minutes.
Don't think that you have irretrievably missed a rare event. If you really wanted to, you could still "catch" the comet in the sky.
“Now, when the comet rises higher and higher above the horizon every day for about a week, after sunset and in clear weather it will be visible to the naked eye,” explained Primorye resident Filipp Romanov.