Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) above Uluru

Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) above Uluru

C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) is a comet from the solar system's Oort cloud discovered by the Purple Mountain Observatory east of Nanjing, China, on January 9, 2023, and independently found by the automated Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) in South Africa on February 22, 2023. ATLAS is funded by NASA's planetary defense office, and developed and operated by the University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy. C/2023 A3 passed perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) at a distance of 0.39 AU (58 million km; 36 million miles) on September 27, 2024.

The Oort cloud is theorized to be a vast cloud of icy planetesimals surrounding the Sun at distances ranging from 2,000 to 200,000 AU (0.03 to 3.2 light-years).

Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock, is a large sandstone monolith. It crops out near the center of Australia in the southern part of the Northern Territory, 335 km (208 mi) southwest of Alice Springs. Uluru is sacred to the Pitjantjatjara, the Aboriginal people of the area, known as the Aṉangu. The area around the formation is home to an abundance of springs, waterholes, rock caves and ancient paintings. Uluru is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Uluru is one of Australia's most recognizable natural landmarks and has been a popular destination for tourists since the late 1930s. It is also one of the most important indigenous sites in Australia.

The comet was captured on October 2, 2024, approximately five minutes after the onset of astronomical dawn.

Note: The foreground was photographed separately from the same location under moonlight conditions (Moon age ≈ 10 days) on Dec 1, 2025, using the same equipment.

Image Credit: Cullen Pan
Capture Location: Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, Northern Territory, Australia
Image Details: 
Sony A1 · Sigma 35mm F1.2 DG DN | Single exposure: ISO 3200 · f/1.8 · 10 s 
Exposure: ISO 800 · f/2.5 · 8 s
Image Date: Oct. 2, 2024

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