Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS)
It was observed on November 17, 2024 with the HCT (IIA, Hanle) in 3 filters: red(i) (6x60sec), green(r) (4x60sec), and blue(g) (4x60sec) to create the RGB – the 'true' colour image by co-adding the images in three colour bands. At the time of observation, the comet was at 1.235 AU from the Sun (moving away never to return). Comet still has a wide coma (at least 3' wide, equivalent to ~207,000 km), and a long, straight dust tail (by some estimates it was 12 degrees long, which is ~50 million km at that time). It is much brighter in the red(i) filter, which suggests that it has lots of dust in the coma. The 10' x 10' images of the filters (i, g, and r, respectively can be seen below, while the composite RGB image can be seen on the side.
Observers: Margarita Safonova, Surya Prakash, and SCOPE Team(IIA). Image manipulation: Margarita Safonova, Arkil Parikh (CHRIST deemed to be University).
