Unveiling the Nature of C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS): A Multi-Technique Observational Approach

Abstract

Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) is a non-periodic dynamically new Oort cloud comet that was discovered independently by Purple Mountain Observatory in China and Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) telescopes in South Africa. The comet passed perihelion at a distance of 0.39 AU on 27 September 2024. It was visible to the naked eye (the brightest since the comet C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp)) and was dubbed the great comet of 2024. In this work, we investigate the nature of this comet, which is moving in a hyperbolic orbit (e > 1), by analysing its composition using various observational techniques and tracing its orbital evolution through high-precision N-body simulations.