Update: I appended a shot through the CPC-800 telescope that I took a few days after the 1st wide-field shot.
Followers of this blog haven’t seen much activity lately. Sorry about that – this Neophyte Astronomer has been on the move! Now writing to you from Petersham, MA. a rural community in north-central Massachusetts.
Moving isn’t any fun and this move sure wasn’t – it consumed much of my summer. (More on the move and why in a future post). And with little patience, for me the universe moved on as well. I’ve been following reports of comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) with great anticipation and the hope that I might see it despite upheaval of the move.
And on one cold evening just minutes from my new location – and just days after unpacking the last moving truckload – the conditions did align for me. I shot this just after sunset on October 15th, 2024 from the Petersham town green. The scene: flooded with moonlight.
This 13-second exposure was taken with just simple equipment: a DSLR camera, kit lens and tripod. The bright moonlight washed out the sky but also illuminated the fall foliage for an almost daylight appearance and an interesting effect. I could see the comet with my naked-eye, but the camera really pulled it out well.
Here’s another shot taken on another night through my CPC-800 telescope. Too bad, this one wasn’t green! Some comets have a lovely green color.
The Neophyte Astronomer 
Great picture! Hope you will enjoy your new perch on our celestial rock!
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Thanks for checking in! Still exploring of course, but hope to find the ideal observing spot. The town green was actually not bad, but there are streetlights, it may not work for deep-sky stuff. This shot of the comet was awash in moonlight anyway, so the artificial light didn’t have much impact.
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Really nice capture of A3, especially with the landscape framing.
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