The University of Tokyo took images of Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS

Tokyo, Oct. 2 (Jiji Press)—The University of Tokyo’s Atacama Observatory Project, which is building a 6.5-meter telescope on top of Chajnantor Hill in Chile, has captured Comet Tsuchingshan-ATLAS (C/2023 A3) and detected images of it.

The comet approaching Earth was discovered by researchers at China’s Purple Mountain Observatory (Zijinshan Astronomical Observatory) in January last year.

The comet can only be seen this time as it does not approach periodically, unlike Halley’s Comet.

In Japan, the comet is expected to be visible in the lower eastern sky at dawn before early this month and in the southwestern sky just after sunset at the end of the month.

“I was so impressed that I flinched when a faint beam of light from the comet appeared from the eastern sky,” said Takahashi Hidenori, an assistant professor at the national university who was part of the project’s photographic team.

(Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.)