The comet in morning twilight October 2nd near Hurricane Mills, Tennessee. Sony a1 with 135mm f1.8 lens, single 6 sec exposure.

October brought another extraterrestrial visitor in the form of Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS C/2023 A3. The comet never reached the initial brightness predicted earlier in the year, but still provided some pretty views.

Sunset near Herndon, Kentucky on October 14th.

As the comet swung around the Sun it became visible in the western sky at sunset the second week of October. We drove up to southern Kentucky and found a good flat western horizon on October 12, but clouds made the comet only dimly visible in the images.

Comet 2024 A3 over moonlit fields on October 14th, Sony a1 camera with Samyang 135mm f1.8 lens. Total exposure time 91 seconds in 2.5 and 3.2 second images.

A view of the comet's path (in white) through the solar system.

But now look what happens when you rotate the view and look along the plane of the comet's orbit. The comet's orbit appears as a single straight line. You can see that for an observer on Earth, you are looking exactly along that plane. That's why scattered material from the comet appears as a thin line, almost laser-like in larger telescopes, appearing to extend from the head of the comet towards the Sun.

The plane of the comet's path seen edgewise - Note how it points toward Earth

I've never had the opportunity to photograph a comet's anti-tail before, and it was satifying to have the chance on this comet.

Jupiter, May 8th, 2015, 20 Inch Newtonian Reflector and ZWO ASI 120MM Camera

Jupiter is in Taurus this month, and rises a little over two hours after the Sun at the beginning of the month.  Over two-thirds of the combined mass of all of the solar system's planets is in your field of view when you aim your telescope at Jupiter. The king of the planets reaches opposition this month, and it's in good position for viewing all night.

NGC 1300 in Eridanus, November 18th, 19th and 20th, 2014. 12.5 Inch Newtonian Reflector and SBIG ST-2000XCM camera. For a larger version of this image and a Hubble telescope view click the above image.

The views below show the sky looking east at 9:45pm EST on November 7th. The first view shows the sky with the constellations outlined and names depicted. Star and planet names are in green. Constellation names are in blue. The second view shows the same scene without labels.

Auriga, the Charioteer, with its bright star Capella, is prominent in the northeast. Look for the bright stars Castor and Pollux as the constellation Gemini, The Twins, clears the horizon. In the southeast, mighty Orion clears the horizon with its bright stars Betelgeuse and Rigel. Note the difference in color between the two stars. Betelgeuse is a red giant and looks orange. Rigel is a very hot supergiant and looks bluish. Looking at the center of the three "sword" stars with binoculars, you can see M42, the Orion Nebula. Just poking its head above the horizon is Lepus, The Hare. Look above the bright star Aldebaran in Taurus to spot the Pleiades, or the Seven Sisters.

Above the southeast horizon are the stars of Eridanus, the River. The river begins near Rigel, at the foot of Orion, and winds its way down to the horizon and disappears below it. It ends in the bright star Achernar, which never rises above our southern horizon. Along its path lies the beautiful barred spiral galaxy NGC 1300, shown in the image above. This galaxy is almost 70 million light-years away.

November 7th, 9:45pm EST, Looking East

November 7th, 9:45pm EST, Looking East

Spring Peeper

I think of November as the quietest time of year for Tennessee frogs and toads.  However, some song can still occasionally be heard.  Listen for Spring Peepers, Upland Chorus Frogs and Southern Leopard Frogs.  Checking around ponds at night with a flashlight held next to your temple  will often show the eye shine of Southern Leopard Frogs, Green Frogs and Bullfrogs.  As in October, you can locate many of the frogs and toads that have been calling more frequently earlier in the year by driving the back roads slowly on rainy nights.  This is a two person job.  One person watches the road for amphibians and one person looks out for other vehicles.