Comet A3’s rare ‘anti-tail’ is captured in video from space
I squinted in the west just after darkness fell on Monday night, and caught a glimpse of the tail of Comet C/2023A3 (Tsuchinshan ATLAS) that looked misty. It makes me want to be in a spacecraft that has a clear view of this unusual celestial visitor. The European Space Agency posted a video from its SOHO sun-watching spacecraft on Tuesday that shows Comet A3 as a streak of glowing light. The video shows the sun in the middle of the frame, and you can see a strange “anti-tail”. Comet A3, a snowball-like cosmic mixture of gas, dust and ice, soars to the right. ESA stated that the nucleus of the comet is clearly visible. It’s surrounded by dusty coma, and has a long tail. The large dust tail is edge-on and curving inward as it’s pushed outward by the solar wind. Read more about
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Watch the video until the end and look for a thin, bright line. ESA describes the “anti tail” as a rare phenomena. The space agency stated that the “anti-tail” is an optical illusion caused by SOHO’s edge-on view at the larger dust particles that collect in the orbital plane of the comet. The space looks like a laser beam. These outbursts can be seen in the video. Stay up-to-date on all the celestial events for October. Stay up-to-date on all the celestial events for October.
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SOHO stands for Solar & Heliospheric Observatory. This sun-studying satellite is a joint ESA/NASA project. It was launched in 1995. Comet A3 has been the second brightest SOHO ever seen. Top honors go to Comet C/2006 P1(McNaught), which was observed in 2007. Comet C/2006 P1 (McNaught) will become harder to see from Earth. Skywatchers in the Northern Hemisphere can try to look westward after sunset using binoculars. You can still see it from the International Space Station or the SOHO spacecraft, even if you missed it. Say hello to A3 as soon as you can before it moves.
