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Comet Tail and Zodiacal Light (Oct 2, 2024).jpg
This captures both the glow of Zodiacal Light in the eastern dawn sky (the band of light extending up across the frame) and the thin dust tail of Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS (C/2023 A3) rising from behind the Pelloncillo mountains, at dawn on October 2, 2024.
The comet's bright head had yet to rise and appear above the mountains, and by the time it did the sky had brightened enough that the fainter extended tail and the Zodiacal Light were washed out. But here with the sky dark enough to reveal the Zodiacal Light the comet tail measures about 13° long, and not all of it is visible here, as some still lies below the mountain ridge line.
This was at 6:03 am MDT, from the Quailway Cottage west of Rodeo, New Mexco, but just over the state line in Arizona. But the mountains are in New Mexico.
The Zodiacal Light is from sunlight reflecting off meteoric and cometary dust orbiting in the inner solar system (though some research suggests it also originates from dust emitted by Mars from its global dust storms), while the comet tail is also made of dust reflecting sunlight. So this is a capture of dust at dawn.
The constellation of Leo is rising at left, with the star Regulus embedded in the Zodiacal Light, as it lies close to the ecliptic.
Technical:
This is a single untracked 15-second exposure at f/2.8 with the Canon RF15-35mm lens at 24mm on the astro-modified red-sensitive Canon Ra camera at ISO 2500. The Ra picks up more of the red twilight glow than a normal camera.
The comet's bright head had yet to rise and appear above the mountains, and by the time it did the sky had brightened enough that the fainter extended tail and the Zodiacal Light were washed out. But here with the sky dark enough to reveal the Zodiacal Light the comet tail measures about 13° long, and not all of it is visible here, as some still lies below the mountain ridge line.
This was at 6:03 am MDT, from the Quailway Cottage west of Rodeo, New Mexco, but just over the state line in Arizona. But the mountains are in New Mexico.
The Zodiacal Light is from sunlight reflecting off meteoric and cometary dust orbiting in the inner solar system (though some research suggests it also originates from dust emitted by Mars from its global dust storms), while the comet tail is also made of dust reflecting sunlight. So this is a capture of dust at dawn.
The constellation of Leo is rising at left, with the star Regulus embedded in the Zodiacal Light, as it lies close to the ecliptic.
Technical:
This is a single untracked 15-second exposure at f/2.8 with the Canon RF15-35mm lens at 24mm on the astro-modified red-sensitive Canon Ra camera at ISO 2500. The Ra picks up more of the red twilight glow than a normal camera.
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- © Alan Dyer/AmazingSky.com
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