I’m sure most readers have heard about the recent comet as it has been all over the news lately, C/2023 A3 ( Tsuchinshan-ATLAS). Apparently it was quite bright for a few days after it emerged from the glow of the sun, but I missed it for a long time due to clouds. Finally, one night I went out and set up my camera, and right on schedule more clouds came in. I could still see it but it wasn’t all that great. Compared to Comet Neowise, I would classify it as a dud! However, this comet did have a nice anti-tail and I was glad to capture that.
Here it is, C/2023 A3 ( Tsuchinshan-ATLAS), photographed through some high clouds. I could see it with the unaided eye on this night. The faint anti-tail is quite apparent. The following night, I tried again. Due to some unforeseen glitches with my camera, the results were not very good, the backgound is blotchy and vignetted. Also, the comet had faded out, I could no longer see it without binoculars. The anti-tail does show up better though. It was very hazy and the bright moon made it difficult. My most exciting bird was this female Bay-breasted Warbler! This is a fairly rare species for our area and I haven’t seen one for many years. It posed for me and I got a lot of nice photos. Here it is again. A Ring-billed Gull playing catch with a crayfish. Here is a Field Sparrow that was feeding on the seeds of Big Bluestem.A Cackling Goose with some Canada Geese, a new bird for the year!And here is my latest new bird for the year, an American Tree Sparrow, species number 358 for the year. Can I make it to 400? I don’t know, maybe.
The sun is quite active now. Another powerful X-class flare was reported today and could give us another round of northern lights on the night of the 9th and 10th. Last week, two X flares sent CME’s (coronal mass ejections) toward Earth. Solar storms were predicted on October 5 and 6, but that turned out to be a dud. However, the last two nights, especially last night (Oct. 7), there were unexpected displays of auroras. Last night, I happened to be out there at just the right time.
It was about 9:30 when I saw pillars showing up in the northeast sky. For the next 10-15 minutes, there was a brilliant display that worked its way across the northern sky. The Pleiades are in the lower right, where the red turns green. At the top center, one can see the Double Cluster.I stitched two frames together for this pano. I really need to get wider angle lens, something in the 14mm class. At 35mm, I can’t get an entire display in the frame. The bright star Capella can be seen a bit right and lower of the center. Looking toward the Big Dipper. I enhanced the seven stars of the Big Dipper.Brilliant reds that the camera captured could be seen with the unaided eye, just not this bright. Later I noticed a patch of nebulosity in the sky almost directly overhead, so I point the camera at it. I believe this is a SAR (stable red arc). SARs are red arcs in the night sky, with a monochromatic glow at 6300 Å that comes from atomic oxygen in the upper atmosphere. The human eye is relatively insensitive to light at this wavelength. SARs are usually so faint that no one notices when they pass overhead. Cameras catch them easily, though. I think what I could see was the green patch and I’m not sure how that came to be there. I’m going to post this on Spaceweather.com and see if I can get an expert opinion. Another pano, looking due north. As always, one can can open these images in another window for a larger view, assuming use of a computer and monitor.
