Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) on 13 Oct, as seen from the Sacramento mountains of southern New Mexico. (Elevation 9,000 feet.)

Look at that anti-tail!

1st image is a stack of 48 15-second exposures as twilight was fading. The sky brightness gradient makes it difficult to see all the faint features in the tail equally well. But the twilight colors are beautiful.

In the 2nd image software has subtracted away the sky brightness and color and contrast has been boosted a great deal.

The anti-tail is not only visible, it now is easy to see a central spine in it.

Note that many satellite/aircraft tracks are also visible. When I stacked the image I used a simple average algorithm and did not use any rejection algorithms. Rejection algorithms can remove most satellite trails, but when the image has a large sky gradient, you can sometimes get strange results.

Image covers 10 x 6.6 degrees.

Tomorrow, I need a wider lens.

#NewMexico #Comet #Astronomy #Astrophotography #Photography