Turkish astrophotographers on watch for once-in-a-lifetime comet

KASTAMONU

Turkish astrophotographers in the northern city of Kastamonu are on the watch to capture a rare celestial event — Comet C/2023 A3 — visible to the naked eye for the first time in 80,000 years.

The comet, discovered last year, has been eagerly awaited by skywatchers and is now gracing the Turkish skies, offering a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for stargazers.

Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS), with an orbital period of approximately 80,000 years, can currently be observed with binoculars and telescopes in the early morning hours just before sunrise.

Starting from Oct. 4, it will also be visible to the naked eye, but only for a few days before it gets too close to the Sun, making it difficult to see without specialized equipment.

“We’ve been out here night after night, watching the skies,” said astrophotographer Murat Helvacıoğlu, who, along with a fellow enthusiast Sinan Kendirci, has set up in Kastamonu’s Sarpacı village.

The two photographers, determined to capture the rare phenomenon, have been using high-resolution cameras and long-exposure techniques to track the comet in the early morning hours, avoiding light pollution in the remote village.

Helvacıoğlu explained that comets are fragments of rock orbiting the Sun. “When these fragments approach the Sun, they emit dust and gas, which form the tails we see,” he said.

Comet C/2023 A3 is a non-periodic comet. Therefore, it has a long orbit of 80,000 years. It normally comes from outside the solar system, circles around the Sun and then is blown away by the gravitational pull of the Sun.

The comet, while faint to the naked eye, is clearly visible with binoculars and will be even more spectacular through telescopes.

“Using telescopes and long-exposure photography allows us to capture more details than the naked eye can perceive,” Helvacıoğlu said. “It’s a breathtaking sight that only comes once in a lifetime.”

The comet is expected to come closest to the Sun between Oct. 8 and 13, at which point it will be blown away due to intense solar forces. It will later reappear on the western horizon after sunset in mid-October, offering another opportunity for observation, though, it will be much smaller and dimmer as it moves farther away from Earth.

For those looking to view it as it moves farther, Helvacıoğlu advises using equipment capable of long exposure to capture the best possible images of the extraordinary event.

Türkiye is home to several stargazing events, including the annual National Sky Observation Festival, held in the western city of Bursa’s Uludağ from Aug. 9 to 11 this year, which attracts both amateur and professional astronomers for a weekend of celestial observations and scientific discussions.