Explanation:
On October 14 it was hard to capture a full view of
Comet C/2023 A3
Tsuchinshan-ATLAS.
Taken after the comet’s closest approach to our fair planet,
this evening skyview almost does though.
With two telephoto frames combined, the image stretches about 26 degrees
across the sky from top to bottom,
looking west from Gates Pass, Tucson, Arizona.
Comet watchers that night could even
identify
globular star cluster M5
and the faint apparition of periodic comet 13P Olbers near the
long the path of Tsuchinshan-ATLAS’s whitish dust tail
above the bright comet’s coma.
Due to perspective
as the Earth is crossing the comet’s orbital plane,
Tsuchinshan-ATLAS also has a pronounced antitail.
The antitail is composed of dust previously released
and fanning out away from the Sun along the comet’s orbit,
visible as a needle-like extension below the bright coma toward
the rugged western horizon.
Source: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap241018.html
