{"id":64674,"date":"2024-10-09T10:50:58","date_gmt":"2024-10-09T10:50:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/a9ab3712-f576-4c40-a57b-94bc4111c212"},"modified":"2024-10-09T11:39:56","modified_gmt":"2024-10-09T11:39:56","slug":"a-comet-and-the-sun-incredible-images-show-c-2023-a3-swing-into-view-of-nasas-solar-space-telescope","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/a-comet-and-the-sun-incredible-images-show-c-2023-a3-swing-into-view-of-nasas-solar-space-telescope\/","title":{"rendered":"A comet and the Sun. Incredible images show C\/2023 A3 swing into view of NASA’s solar space telescope"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Iain Todd\n <\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 09 October 2024 at 10:50 AM<\/p>

\n\n

It feels like everyone with a camera and clear skies is capturing amazing images of Comet C\/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, and that includes NASA’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO).<\/p>

NASA’s SOHO spacecraft captured these images of Comet C\/2023 between 7 \u2013 9 October 2024, just after its close approach to Earth.<\/p>

It’s reminiscent of the amazing images of Comet C\/2023 A3 captured by astronauts onboard the International Space Station<\/a>.<\/p>

Find out more about the comet with our beginner’s guide to Comet A3<\/a> and our guide to observing Comet A3 in October<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>

Image of Comet C\/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS created using images captured by NASA’s SOHO spacecraft, 9 October 2024. Credit: NASA\/SOHO<\/figcaption><\/figure>

The comet is seen as a bright white object with a tale approaching the solar disc, which is obscured by SOHO’s coronagraph instrument (the dark blue circle in the centre of the image).<\/p>

The distinct white dot to the left of the image is the planet Mercury.<\/p>

Below is an animation of Comet C\/2023 A3 created using the images captured by SOHO.<\/p>

\"Animated
Animated gif of Comet C\/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS created using images captured by NASA’s SOHO spacecraft, 7 \u2013 9 October 2024. Credit: NASA\/SOHO<\/figcaption><\/figure>

NASA’s SOHO<\/strong><\/h2>

NASA’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory orbits the Sun in step with Earth, capturing amazing images of our host star to enable solar scientists learn more about what makes the Sun tick.<\/p>

Its LASCO\u00a0(Large Angle Spectrometric Coronagraph) adopts an instrument known as a ‘coronagraph<\/a>‘, which effectively creates an artificial solar eclipse<\/a> by blocking out the Sun’s ‘disk’.<\/p>

This restricts the Sun’s brightness and enables better views of its dynamic surface, revealing phenomena such as solar flares that would otherwise be difficult to see.<\/p>

It’s much the same as how you block out the Sun with your hand on a sunny day in order to better see what’s in front of you.<\/p>

\"A
A SOHO image showing the 5,000th confirmed comet discovered by the observatory. The large circle in the centre is a coronagraph, which obscures the main solar disc, allowing scientists to observe prominences and other phenomena emanating from the Sun’s outer layer. Credit: NASA\/ESA SOHO<\/figcaption><\/figure>

NASA’s SOHO mission provides data in real time, so you can look back and see what the Sun was doing at a particular time on a particular date.<\/p>

In this case, we were able to look back and see Comet C\/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS coming into LASCO’s view.<\/p>

When you watch the animation above, try and keep your eyes away from the comet and concentrate instead on the features you see extending from the Sun beyond the coronagraph.<\/p>

You’ll see bright solar flares being ejected into space.<\/p>

The Sun is currently very active as it approaches the peak of the Solar Cycle<\/a>, meaning it’s an exciting time to be a solar scientist.<\/p>

For more information, head to soho.nascom.nasa.gov<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n

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By Iain Todd Published: Wednesday, 09 October 2024 at 10:50 AM It feels like everyone with a camera and clear skies is capturing amazing images of Comet C\/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, and that includes NASA’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). NASA’s SOHO spacecraft captured these images of Comet C\/2023 between 7 \u2013 9 October 2024, just […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":64675,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/10\/a-comet-and-the-sun-incredible-images-show-c-2023-a3-swing-into-view-of-nasas-solar-space-telescope.jpg",1200,1200,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/10\/a-comet-and-the-sun-incredible-images-show-c-2023-a3-swing-into-view-of-nasas-solar-space-telescope-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/10\/a-comet-and-the-sun-incredible-images-show-c-2023-a3-swing-into-view-of-nasas-solar-space-telescope-300x300.jpg",300,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/10\/a-comet-and-the-sun-incredible-images-show-c-2023-a3-swing-into-view-of-nasas-solar-space-telescope-768x768.jpg",768,768,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/10\/a-comet-and-the-sun-incredible-images-show-c-2023-a3-swing-into-view-of-nasas-solar-space-telescope-1024x1024.jpg",800,800,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/10\/a-comet-and-the-sun-incredible-images-show-c-2023-a3-swing-into-view-of-nasas-solar-space-telescope.jpg",1200,1200,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2024\/10\/a-comet-and-the-sun-incredible-images-show-c-2023-a3-swing-into-view-of-nasas-solar-space-telescope.jpg",1200,1200,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Iain Todd Published: Wednesday, 09 October 2024 at 10:50 AM It feels like everyone with a camera and clear skies is capturing amazing images of Comet C\/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, and that includes NASA’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). NASA’s SOHO spacecraft captured these images of Comet C\/2023 between 7 \u2013 9 October 2024, just…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/64674"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}