SUNSET: 
0
Photographer:
Mike Olason
Location of Photo:
Tucson, Arizona
Date/Time of photo:
2025 September 24, 0253UT
Equipment:
91mm f/4.9 Refractor and ASI533mm camera
Description:
Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS has been steadily brightening this month, it started September at about magnitude 15.5 and in these images is now magnitude 12.4, 17x brighter on 9/24 than at the beginning of the month. Magnitude measurements on 9/26 and 9/29 had the comet at magnitude 12.5, so it appears to be in a bit of a quiet period at the moment. The comet will move into the evening twilight in the next week and then set before one can observe it. It will reappear in early November. It has a very short tail above the coma in this image, note the magnitude 12.8 star in the image, the comet and its coma is just a little brighter.
