Uploaded October 2024 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
From 7 until 13 October 2024, ESA/NASA’s SOHO (https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/SOHO) spacecraft recorded Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS), the second brightest comet (https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Rosetta/Comets_an_overview) it has ever seen. Meanwhile, large amounts of material were being spewed out by the Sun (covered in the centre), and planet Mercury is visible to the left.
Comet C/2023 A3 was seen for the first time early last year. It most likely came from the distant Oort cloud (https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2023/11/Where_do_comets_come_from).
The comet reached an estimated peak brightness just beyond –4 magnitude. (The more negative the visual magnitude value, the brighter the object.) Of the more than 5000 comets (https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2024/03/SOHO_reaches_5000_comets) SOHO has seen flying past the Sun, only Comet C/2006 P1 (McNaught) (https://sci.esa.int/web/soho/-/40529-brightest-comet-ever-observed-by-soho) was brighter, with a visual magnitude of –5.5.
SOHO’s location between the Sun and Earth gave it a front-row seat, but the same comet has been visible from Earth every evening since 12 October 2024. Throughout October, as the comet moves farther away from the Sun, it will gradually grow fainter and rise higher up in the western sky.
The week that SOHO watched Comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS was also a wild one in terms of space weather. The Sun unleashed no less than 4 X-class flares (the highest intensity type of flare), 28 medium-intensity M-class flares, and 31 coronal mass ejections – the latter being visible as white clouds of material in the video. All this activity led to two geomagnetic storms on Earth, resulting in beautiful auroras lighting up the night sky.
SOHO, short for Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, is a joint ESA-NASA mission to study the Sun. For almost 29 years now, it has been watching the Sun itself as well as the much fainter light coming from the Sun’s outer atmosphere, called the solar corona. The data shown in this video were taken by the LASCO C2 (red) and C3 (blue) coronagraph instruments.
The comet is so bright that it partially saturated SOHO’s sensor. Click here youtube.com/watch?v=OTrvT5ozj6k for a differently processed video where more of the comet’s structure is visible. The comet appears to slow down around 10 October because the image cadence of SOHO’s cameras was increased.
What types of comets are there? (https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Comet_Interceptor/What_types_of_comets_are_there)
How are comets named? (https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Comet_Interceptor/How_are_comets_named)
Credit: SOHO (ESA & NASA)
Acknowledgement: Daniel Müller
We are Europe's gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe's space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
Copyright information about our videos is available here: https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Terms_and_conditions_of_use_of_images_and_videos_available_on_the_esa_website
From 7 until 13 October 2024, ESA/NASA’s SOHO (https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/SOHO) spacecraft recorded Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS), the second brightest comet (https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Rosetta/Comets_an_overview) it has ever seen. Meanwhile, large amounts of material were being spewed out by the Sun (covered in the centre), and planet Mercury is visible to the left.
Comet C/2023 A3 was seen for the first time early last year. It most likely came from the distant Oort cloud (https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2023/11/Where_do_comets_come_from).
The comet reached an estimated peak brightness just beyond –4 magnitude. (The more negative the visual magnitude value, the brighter the object.) Of the more than 5000 comets (https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2024/03/SOHO_reaches_5000_comets) SOHO has seen flying past the Sun, only Comet C/2006 P1 (McNaught) (https://sci.esa.int/web/soho/-/40529-brightest-comet-ever-observed-by-soho) was brighter, with a visual magnitude of –5.5.
SOHO’s location between the Sun and Earth gave it a front-row seat, but the same comet has been visible from Earth every evening since 12 October 2024. Throughout October, as the comet moves farther away from the Sun, it will gradually grow fainter and rise higher up in the western sky.
The week that SOHO watched Comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS was also a wild one in terms of space weather. The Sun unleashed no less than 4 X-class flares (the highest intensity type of flare), 28 medium-intensity M-class flares, and 31 coronal mass ejections – the latter being visible as white clouds of material in the video. All this activity led to two geomagnetic storms on Earth, resulting in beautiful auroras lighting up the night sky.
SOHO, short for Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, is a joint ESA-NASA mission to study the Sun. For almost 29 years now, it has been watching the Sun itself as well as the much fainter light coming from the Sun’s outer atmosphere, called the solar corona. The data shown in this video were taken by the LASCO C2 (red) and C3 (blue) coronagraph instruments.
The comet is so bright that it partially saturated SOHO’s sensor. Click here youtube.com/watch?v=OTrvT5ozj6k for a differently processed video where more of the comet’s structure is visible. The comet appears to slow down around 10 October because the image cadence of SOHO’s cameras was increased.
What types of comets are there? (https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Comet_Interceptor/What_types_of_comets_are_there)
How are comets named? (https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Comet_Interceptor/How_are_comets_named)
Credit: SOHO (ESA & NASA)
Acknowledgement: Daniel Müller
We are Europe's gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe's space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
Copyright information about our videos is available here: https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Terms_and_conditions_of_use_of_images_and_videos_available_on_the_esa_website
