Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS meets the ESO Supernova

Earth has a majestic new visitor. Seen last week above the ESO Supernova Planetarium & Visitor Centre, the comet C/2023 A3, also known as Tsuchinshan-ATLAS comes to us from the distant Oort Cloud, a gigantic cluster of icy objects that envelops the Solar System. As it got closer to the Sun, it heated up and developed tails of dust and gas observed by comet watchers around the world, including at ESO Headquarters in Garching bei München, Germany.

The comet was first detected in early 2023 by two independent facilities: the Tsuchinshan observatory in China and a telescope from the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS), located in South Africa. Since then, it has been getting closer, reaching its closest distance to the Sun in September 2024. Its brightness peaked in early October, and the comet is now dimming down as it embarks on a long journey back home.

This object is one of the brightest comets of the last two decades. In this Picture of the Week, several images were stacked together to reveal faint details in the tail, but the comet was easily visible to the naked eye. Is there a better way to end a day learning about the wonders of the Universe than to leave the Planetarium and seeing one of them yourself?