Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS (at centre) is rising in the dawn twilight over Monument Valley, Arizona on the morning of September 30, 2024. The comet is rising just south (right) of Merrick Butte. The more famous Mitten buttes are off frame to the left. The location was the old Mitten View campground on the south end of The View Hotel looking slightly south of east. The time was 6:02 am MDT. I had to shoot from this position, as from the more usual viewpoints to the north of the Hotel, the comet would have been rising behind Merrick Butte. But planning and compass apps helped me determine the comet would rise to the right of Merrick Butte from the south end of the Hotel. I was able to get the comet in a clear band of skky below the clouds that morning. Unfortunately, those stubborn clouds refused to reveal the thin waning crescent Moon that would have been shining above the butte for a perfect scene. I settled for just getting the comet! And I had only a few minutes to get it between comet rise (the frames before these showed just the tail coming up) and the comet disappearing up into the clouds. The long exposures and high ISOs were needed to show the scene well, but make it appear here much brighter than it was to the eye. The comet was barely visible in binoculars and not at all to the unaided eye. Technical: This is a blend of a single untracked 25-second exposure for the ground followed by a single tracked 30-second exposure, both at f/2 and ISO 1600 with the RF28-70mm lens at 70mm on the Canon R5. The camera was on the MSM Nomad tracker. The tracker keeps the comet and stars sharp but blurs the clouds, and the blending in of the untracked image keeps the ground sharp.
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