Hunting for COMET A3!

Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) is currently a naked-eye object about 45 minutes after sunset in the Northern Hemisphere. Look for it to the West! In this video I bring you with me in the journey of finding it, photographing it, and a quick edit in Photoshop.

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Tech. Specs + Gear
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2 sec., f/4, ISO1600 (I used 17 * 2" in the PS Stack)
Keep in mind the comet will be higher and higher in the evening sky this month, and also dimmer, so longer exposures and tracking will be called for soon :)

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❤️ Patreon ❤️
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Contents
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0:00 Why I'm hiking to a mountaintop
2:37 Setting up and the gear I brought
4:00 Found it!
4:35 Better than NEOWISE?
4:56 Editing a stack in Photoshop

[NebulaPhotos]

Forgot to mention the camera settings in the video: 2 sec., f/4, ISO1600 (I used 17 * 2" in the PS Stack) Keep in mind with these settings that the comet will be higher and higher in the Western sky this month, but also dimmer, so longer exposures and tracking will be called for soon :)

[dmintz]

The first youtuber brave enough to say the full name of the comet on live TV! 😂 Well done, Nico!!

[EvenTheDogAgrees]

During stacking, when you're manually aligning, you start by aligning layer 2 to layer 1, and then turn opacity of both up, and align layer 3 to layer 2. A better approach would be to turn off the visibility of layer 2 and align layer 3 to the same layer (1) that you aligned layer 2 to. Introduces less errors, since you're always referencing the same static layer, as opposed to a potentially moving target as the small errors from every stack start adding up.

[bradperry]

Glad to hear you mention "the thrill of the hunt" when it comes to comets. I've been out 3 times now trying to get a good shot of this one with little success, but none of it feels like a waste because just finding a comet in the sky at all feels like a little victory – even if it's just for a moment before the clouds roll in or the morning twilight takes over.

[MrBonger]

I remember what a huge event Halley’s Comet was back in 1986. Our school even arranged field trips to the Cranbrook Institute of Science in Michigan where I got my first views of the universe in the planetarium . My mind was blown at the whole experience as a kid in the 6th grade. It left a lasting impression and triggered my love for astronomy/astrophotography. Thank you Halley’s

[lukomatico]

Hey Nico!! - I really loved the little adventure at the start of this mate, and I just want to say the shot starting around 2:50 was evocative, it really stirred up a feeling of anticipation and wonder as the last remnants of sunlight gave way to the darkness of space, superb! 🙂
Tremendous work as always my friend!

[Andyb]

I remember hail bopp comet ☄️ in 1997. That was awesome

[russellcameronthomas]

I saw it with naked eye on Sunday Oct 13, looking over San Francisco Bay from Berkeley. Small hill (50 ft). Got photographs. 30 exposures, 1/10 sec, F2.8, 180mm. Sony A7 IV.

I hear you about "thrill of the hunt". I was looking too close to Venus. The comet was a full hand width away (spread).

Also -- the satellites were VERY prevalent. 4 to 6 per set of exposures. I hand-deleted them on each exposure since they were a dot on each.

Aligning stacks -- I aligned to background stars rather than the comet itself. Much more precise. Also set the layer to "Difference" while aligning, which also allows more precision. Once aligned, set layer to "Luminance, if lighter" in GIMP

[huf]

1:48 ... "I timed this hike to arrive at the top of the mountain just as I run out of oxygen... Will post more from the afterlife"

[theaveragenick]

Finally supposed to get a clear night here in Wisconsin tonight! Aiming for this tonight and will use this tutorial to manually stack. Thanks Nico.

[aw]

Fun stuff, thank you Nico and Team, clear skies

[markattardo]

Nice view up there. Appreciate the processing, I didn't realize you could drag the layers to manually align like that. I like your sunset result, it's a nice change of pace.
Hoping for clear skies asap.

[cristianmoore]

Literally photographing A3 as this video shows up in my notifications. 😂

[KylesAstrophotography]

Nice video. The result turned out well!

[martynh]

Nice job on comet A3 Nico. I was able to see it naked eye from my home in Southern CA on the 12th. I managed a few photos using my iPhone too! A very nice looking comet and a long tail!

[afryhover]

Nice job Nico. I also found it pretty easy Saturday night. I was still “in the city” so it wasn’t super bright. But, it’s there. We’ll see if it holds together over the next few weeks.

[EricWaugh]

I used Sequator to stack my image. It wroked pretty good. Also I think Im seeing Comet 13P Olbers just passed the tail of ATLAS. Love your videos. thanks for sharing

[jameshcox]

Nice work well done. Gonna try the same this week..

[graveytraingt]

I just came back from from taking shots of the comet. I bought the Star Adventurer GTI because of your, and another person's video. Looked like the shots came out well. No editing at the moment but I'm excited!!

[stamatismetallin]

hi Nico! I love to see any new and old uploads from you! You are my teacher!❤