Comet 2024 G3 ATLAS - 29 January

[OzEclipse]

Comet 2024 G3 ATLAS is still shaking its tail feather! Despite the absence of a head, I could still see 8-10 degrees of naked eye tail tonight, slightly more with binoculars. The bright neck of the comet had a very slightly fainter surface brightness to the Small Magellanic Cloud(SMC).
If you are at a location where you can't see the SMC you definitely won't see the comet. I first picked up the comet in binoculars and in camera about 40 minutes prior to the end of astronomical twilight.

[gregbradley]

Great shot Joe. Roughly what time does it go below say around 5 degrees?

Greg.

[OzEclipse]

Hi Greg,

I'm 250km west of Sydney so my times will be a bit different to yours. It was at 5 degrees at about 10pm AEDT so maybe 950pm in Sydney or the coast(?) and I shot the images I stacked and posted in the OP at 930pm±5 mins AEDT when the comet was 10 degrees.

My last shot was at 1020pm, comet just above the thick smoke layer, with a 50mm lens, I caught 14 deg of tail. Not yet processed of posted.

Joe