This is the comet C/2023-A3 Tsuchinshan. It has come into the inner solar system from deep in the Ort Cloud at the outer limits of the sun’s gravitational field. It’s on a hyperbolic trajectory as it passes by the sun, meaning that it’s not ever going to come back, it’s just passing through, a stranger and first time visitor to our neighborhood.
The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, said “Be in this world as if you were a stranger or a passer by” كُن في الدُّنيا كَأنَّكَ غَرِيبٌ أو عَابِرُ سَبِيلٍٍ
Shine your light, leave behind some traces of your presence, and leave in peace the way you came in.
The first photo is a close up taken on 10/12/24.
The Stranger with its Anti-Tail
The second photo from 10/14/24 is a wider angle and taken when the Earth was crossing the orbital plane of the comet and so we can see not only the comet’s tail flowing away from the sun, but also it’s Anti-Tail pointing back to the sun. A comet’s tail always points away from the sun as the solar wind and energy ablate the comet and cause particles to blow off of it away from the sun. The Anti-Tail only shows up when we cross the comet’s orbital plane and is made up of the comet’s particles that are left behind. The Anti-Tail points towards the sun.
Get out and see this comet with your own eyes before it’s gone, its a once in lifetime chance, literally.
I ventured out on Thursday night to try my first attempt at photographing the Aurora Borealis. I did not know what to expect nor what the aurora would look like. I decided on a location in Marin County in California in Mount Tamalpias State park on Point Ballou which was approximately 2000 feet above sea level hoping to avoid any fog coming off the coast. It also had a good view north with the northern horizon line just a bit lower than the point.
When I got to the park entrance just after sunset, the rangers had already locked the gates. That I was not expecting and I felt like my effort was thwarted. I parked there for a few minutes considering my options. Go back into the Bay Area and try to find a composition that included a bridge or try heading further north into Point Reyes National Seashore. I chose the latter and headed down to Hwy 1 along the coast. It was around 8 pm by the time I got to Hwy 1 and started heading north. All along the way the Coast ranges were blocking any view to the north until I got into Olema. There was one open section where I could see the Big Dipper, but the horizon was a bit high. I continued on into Point Reyes only to find I was under fog. So I turned around and headed back to Olema and made my stand there.
I arrived around 8:30 pm and very near peak storm according to the Astropheric Kp forecast. I pointed my camera north and made an exposure and sure enough, even though my eyes could not see anything in the sky, a huge swath of crimson appeared on my LCD. I spent the next hour making exposures. But it was strange as the swath of color did not have the ribbons of light, nor did spread out horizontally along the horizon. I was somewhat puzzled and a little bit disappointed in how the night turned out.
When I returned to my neighborhood in the Santa Cruz Mountains around midnight, I decided to stop at the only area where I could get a view of the sky and I wanted to photograph Orion as it rose in the east. To my amazement that crimson band was there in the North East! I turned to the North West and made another exposure and that band was there again. I was greatly puzzled.
When I got home, I started to look up other photos of the Aurora on Spaceweather.com and happened upon a photo with a caption stating a possible SAR arc was in the photo. I looked it up and discovered that a SAR (Stable Auroral Red) arc is a unique phenomena that takes place during intense geomagnetic storms but is not an aurora. Aurora are caused by charged particles interacting with the upper atmosphere and the Van Allen Belts causing the particles to glow.
A SAR arc is caused by a release of heat into the upper atmosphere and interacting with the Earth’s Ring Current System -What? I know! Crazy!
So the first photo above is what I “saw” around 8:30 pm. The SAR arc is very prominent arcing from the NW and over my head. I think I did catch some of the Aurora off to the North just over the horizon.
The second photo below is from the same location but around 9 pm during the peak of the geomagnetic storm and I think the Aurora intensified a bit as I can see, in the photo, some vertical banding in it. The SAR arc also seemed to intensify a bit.
SAR arc near peak geomagnetic storm
The Aurora on the horizon has intensified as vertical ribbons are now somewhat visible and the SAR has also intensified.
The last two photos below are of the SAR arc from my neighborhood, and the crazy thing is that it did actually arc across the entire sky from NW to NE!
The SAR from my neighborhood facing NorthwestThe SAR now facing Northeast
I went out looking for Auroras and came back with something even more rare, a SAR arc!
This world we live in ceases to amaze with its varied natural phenomena. Even when we cannot see it, as a SAR arc is usually not visible to the human eye as it radiates light as a pure monochromatic 6300 Angstrom wavelength. Our eyes can see light in the wavelength range from 4000 to 7000 Angstroms (violet at 4000 to red at 7000 Angstroms). It starts getting difficult to see light at about 6000 Angstroms. Digital cameras on the other hand, can see well into the infrared light spectrum and that is why the red auroras and this SAR come out so clearly in digital photographs.
The Auroras are typical in the high northern and southern latitudes and become even more pronounced when the Earth experiences a geomagnetic storm. In these geomagnetic storms the Earth is bombarded by charged particles that were ejected from the surface of the sun during what is called a CME or Coronal Mass Ejection. The recent geomagnetic storm that produced these photographs resulted from the charged particles ejected from a massive sunspot on the surface of the sun about ten times the size of the Earth. The sunspots are like giant magnetic storms on the surface of the sun and a CME is like a massive volcanic explosion sending matter out into the solar system. If not for the Van Allen Belts surrounding the Earth, our very own cosmic shield, such a geomagnetic storm would seriously hurt all living things on the Earth. HERE is a good example of what the Van Allen Belts do for us when a CME hits the earth.
The spectacle of light in the night sky is something surreal and amazing. As if the starry sky was not enough to keep us enthralled, The Sublime bestows many subtle yet awe inspiring displays of light both in the day and in the night. No wonder God says that God is The Light of the Heavens and the Earth because nothing is comparable to God, and nothing in this world is comparable to Light.
Take some time and go out into the night to marvel at the grandeur that is the sky.
I know I have been delinquent since October of last year. I apologize. My teaching schedule has had me on the ropes for much of that time and even though working with students on some pretty incredible science and engineering projects leading up to the county science fair is creative, its just not the same as losing oneself behind the camera and producing a piece of art that just touches the soul.
To remedy my absence and get my creative photographic juices flowing again I decided on heading out to the happiest place on Earth. No, not Disneyland….but Yosemite! I could not think of any better place to immerse myself in inspirational beauty.
I usually come into the Park from the northern entrance, but this time I wanted to challenge myself to see the park differently, so I drove in via the southern entrance and Hwy 41 out of Fresno. I think I might have only come through this way once, maybe twice in my life. So seeing the park from this ascent really got my eye primed for looking at the park in a different way. I left the Bay Area mid morning and hoped to get into the Valley for the late afternoon light and catch sunset. It would be a quick jaunt, just one day, maybe stay later into the night for some star trail photography, but then, maybe not. I would just let my luck fall where it may.
Normally coming in from the north, the road leads me to Valley View, which is down on the Merced River. I almost always stop there to whet my lens an burn a sheet on El Capitan there, as sort of an homage to the Captain. This time however the road brought me to Tunnel View which is about 500 feet higher in elevation giving a very different perspective on the Valley. Thus I decided to stop there to warm up.
As I arrived there must have been what looked like 50 to 60 photographers all lined up on the overlook pad with tripods all interlocked! As I walked up after parking and gathering my gear it sounded like crickets or cicada buzzing with all the shutters going off. I almost gave up and walked off when I suddenly spied a fellow Bay Area photographer, Richard Wong. He was there right in the middle of the fray and I called to him. He turned and was just as surprised as I was to meet each other there. What were the chances!? Looks like luck might have smiled on me. We spoke for a bit and then he said “here, I’m done, take my spot, you wont get in otherwise”. So as he slipped out, I wiggled my way in and started to set up. Hopefully we would meet later in the park, but for now I had to work quickly as the light was just getting good and I did not want to throw away an opportunity to capture such a unique moment.
Working with the 4×5 is slow, but over the years it has become almost second nature to me and I could get a photo made in just under 5 minutes from dropping my backpack to tripping the shutter. The resulting photo from this most fortuitous meeting is below. One of my best Yosemite photos to date!
Best Yosemite Shot Ever!
As I was finishing up and starting to get packed up I started to reflect on the good fortune I had to get this spot among the hoard of photographers and I suddenly felt very generous and wanted to pass this opportunity forward. I looked behind me to see if anyone was waiting photograph there as well when I suddenly saw another good friend of mine from the Bay Area, Gary Crabbe of Enlightened Images Photography! What are the chances of seeing two good friends there on the same day!!? I offered my spot to Gary and stepped aside. As he got situated we spoke for a bit. I asked that he let me know what he comes away with. I did not see Richard again on the trip, not sure where he wandered off to, but Gary did share with me his view, another stunning view from Yosemite, if I do say so myself.
Sometimes getting the creative edge in photography is being at the right place at the right time, and meeting up with the right people too.
