Comet in the Night Sky

Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS streaks across the night sky, as seen from our front porch.

Several others have posted photos of this comet with a very long name on social media and elsewhere lately, so I decided to jump on the bandwagon and take my own photo, too. I am not always a bandwagon jumper, but I decided to be for this occasion.

To get my photo, I took the easy (i.e. lazy) route and just went out on our front porch. First, I took a photo with my phone, which does pretty well with night photos. That was to help me find the comet, because I could not see it without help. Once I was sure of where it was, I got my camera and my tripod and took a photo. Actually, I took a few photos, but this one was the best one. But there is a little more to the photo…

Wider View

The first photo is actually a crop of this second photo. I liked this version with more of the sky, but I felt that the cropped version helps you focus on the comet a little more.

Also, are those three lights at the lower right part of a Starlink satellite train? Or are they an airplane with a flashing light moving through my long exposure? Your guess is as good as mine, but I am going to say it is the latter.

Imitation

Sometimes, it is good to jump on the bandwagon, to do what others are doing. But at other times, it is best to do your own thing. How do you know when to do which one? It takes some practice and some thought.

In our ongoing quest to love one another, it is good to find people to imitate. If you like how someone makes you feel loved, and if they are loving you for the right reasons and not because they can get something out of it, that person is a good person to imitate. You can usually tell if someone is sincere or not. Follow the sincere people, and make sure you are sincere about it as well.

Of course, the best person to imitate is Jesus, who loved fully and unconditionally. You cannot go wrong in imitating him. That is the best kind of bandwagon to jump on!

Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. - Philippians 3:17-21

About the Photos

As I mentioned, these two photos were actually one long exposure photo. I used my 28-70mm zoom lens to zoom in on the comet as much as I could. Using the 500 rule and dividing 500 by the focal length of 70mm, I could only get about an 8 second exposure without getting any star trails. And my zoom lens only opens as wide as f/5.6 at 70mm. That meant that I had to turn the ISO up a bit to be able to see the stars and the comet. I used ISO 1250, which meant that I had to do some noise reduction on the photo when I processed it. In hindsight, I might have been better off to use my 50mm prime lens, which opens up to f/1.8 and then crop the photo slightly more. But I am happy with how all this turned out.¹

Also, compressing these photos for the web may make them look a little blocky if you look closely. Sorry about that. Sometimes the web is a game of speed vs. quality.

Photo: A single Raw exposure, processed in Raw Therapee and GIMP.
Camera: Sony Alpha A7 II
Lens: Sony FE 28-70mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS lens
Date: October 22, 2024
Location: Williston, Tennessee