Astronauts capture spectacular timelapse of comet A3 and the aurora from space

Astronauts on board the International Space Station have posted incredible images and timelapse videos of comet A3 from their unique vantage point on the station. The comet can be seen against the green and purple backdrop of the aurora borealis and the sunrise.

Matthew Dominick and Don Pettit shot the images on the Nikon Z9 with 50mm and 200mm lenses. The pair have become known for their love of photography and the fantastic images they send back to Earth.

According to Pettit’s X post, the pair had to used advanced maths to calculate the position of the comet in the sky as it wasn’t yet visible to the naked eye. “This comet is known as C2023-A3 or Tsuchinshan-ATLAS” he writes, “@dominickmatthew used math (go figure) and our orbital geometry to figure out where to point our cameras and was the first to get a good photo.”

“Using Matthew’s technique, I will photograph every day to see what develops in the tail structure. Currently, there appears to be a forward directed “tail” that I am not certain is real or an artifact from shooting through 4 window panes. Time will tell if this structure brightens. Stay tuned,” Pettit continues, implying that more photos of the comet from the ISS will follow soon.

The comet C2023-A3 or Tsuchinshan-ATLAS will be visible in the Northern Hemisphere until the end of October of this year. Similar to NEOWISE which was visible in 2020, this comet is a ball of frozen gases, rocks and dust. October 2nd will be the peak viewing day for this comet, between the hours of 5 and 7am close to the horizon. It will not appear again in our skies for tens of thousands of years.