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I would try to see it around 6:30 to 7 pm tonight.  It will be almost due West and at the same elevation as Venus above  the horizon.  The comet climbs higher over the next few days and I’d love to see it next to M5 on the 15th at 7 pm or so.  Root river has a good view of the due W horizon.

Who is up for chasing down comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS on Saturday?  We still have an open invitation to Salem Glen on Sunday, but weather is looking a bit sketchy.  I would like to take every opportunity to see it and hopefully get a better view than in the attached images from the morning of October 2.  It was not visible naked eye or in binoculars.

The sky situation at the beginning of the public observation at Watson Soccer Fields. Two prominent celestial lights can be seen here: Venus and Arcturus. Comet A3’s height above the horizon was about 1.7 degrees lower than Venus. It is probably obscured by clouds in this image.
Tomorrow, Saturday, October 12, comet A3 will be 3.6 degrees higher…[Read more]

thats cool Josef! thanks for posting 🙂

After 8 p.m. I parked on 65th Street, walked to the field and took pictures of the aurora from my tripod. Suddenly I noticed a bright, almost vertical band to the west. I began to wonder what it was. For a few moments I thought it might be the tail of the now set comet A3, which has suddenly become very bright and only the tail is visible.…[Read more]

Very nice Josef.  Here another view from my backyard.

Aurora Borealis over constellation Corona Borealis above 75th ST NW

Geomagnetic storming with nice aurora over 2/3 of sky NOW! (9 pm 10-10-2024)

Look at this fantastic pic from SOHO today of a massive CME and the comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS near the sun!  We may get another G4 geomagnetic storm on Oct 10 and the comet may lose it’s tail!

Thank you! That is good feedback. I will see if I can incorporate it and maybe even put it in the form as a variable for people to enter.

Very interesting John! I wonder if the search could customize a minimum horizon like 5 -10 degrees to refine usable targets.

Thank you, Josef! This is very helpful. I wonder if I can direct the API to tell OpenAI only to use certain sources that we trust. I will work on it. thanks again!

John, this is great project!

I tried to generate for the period from October 7, 2024, between 22:15 and 23:45. See attached PDF.

Here is what I found not accurate:

#1 Cannot not be visible: Mars is rising around 23:45
#6 Cannot not be visible: M8 is setting down around 22:15
#7 Cannot not be visible: M42 is rising around midnight
#9 Visible…[Read more]

Aurora Borealis just from NW Rochester backyard tonight October 7th.

I just went outside, put on my eclipse glasses and saw a big sunspot. It’s almost in the middle of the disk.

Aurora Borealis at 8:49 tonight, October 6, from 75th Street NW. Canon EOS T6, 24mm, f/2.8,ISO3200,8s.

I am headed to Eagle Bluff tonight.

At Okie-Tex this week Randy, Jerome and myself enjoyed the clear dark skies and views of galaxies (especially M77 in Cetus) and small planetary nebulae.
Last night back in Rochester I imaged M77 and noticed an edge on galaxy (which turned out to be NGC 1055). These are the two largest galaxies in their neighborhood approximately 50-60 million…[Read more]

I’m hoping to make it too. My son had a seizure today and I’m in the ER right now waiting for tests to be done.