Comet C2023 A3 Tsuchinshan–ATLAS wrap up and an aurora fail

Stacked my comet images to see if i could pull out the anti-tail...no luck :( though you can see a bit more of the tail, especially to the right compared to the single frames.  

comet C2023 A3 Tsuchinshan–ATLAS
10/12/2024 7:23 - 7:30 PM Local
average of 119 images

Here's a cell phone shot of the "football field" with a few OCA members in action

comet C2023 A3 Tsuchinshan–ATLAS
10/12/2024 7:29 PM Local
Anza football field

A closer cell phone view approximating the field of my D850 shot

comet C2023 A3 Tsuchinshan–ATLAS
10/12/2024 7:30 PM Local
Anza

Lastly I took a "shot in the dark", trying to catch the 10/10/24 aurora from my backyard in east bluff.  no hint of the aurora (not unexpected being just south of John Wayne airport).  made some star trails for fun:

Star Trails 10/10/2024

Image details:

comet

10/12/24 19:23-19:30 local

Orange County Astronomers site

Anza, CA

nikon D850

F-S DX NIKKOR 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR

2.5 sec @ f/4.5 ISO 1600 55 mm

119 x 2.5 sec average combine

wide fields

samsung galaxy S22 ultra

23 mm f/1.8 1/2 sec ISO 2000

star trails

nikon D850

Sigma 15mm F/4.5 EX DG fisheye

not sure on settings, maybe 4 sec, iso 1600

Comet C2023 A3 Tsuchinshan–ATLAS

comet C2023 A3 Tsuchinshan–ATLAS
10/12/2024 7:24 PM Local

Went out to anza saturday to catch the comet.  as the beautiful pink of sunset faded, i was worried it was going to be a bust, but at 7 pm (40 minutes after sunset) i caught a faint glimpse.  it continued to improve over the next 20 minutes then gradually faded as it set.  i could see a vertical streak visually, only slightly better with averted vision.  7x50 binoculars showed a bright nucleus with a large slightly fan shaped tail, close to the photo above.  15x50 IS binoculars gave a bit better view of the core, but the field felt too small.

Animation:

large animation

click on full size if you have the band width:

Image details:

10/12/24 19:24-19:34 local

Orange County Astronomers site

Anza, CA
nikon D850
F-S DX NIKKOR 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR

2.5 sec @ f/4.5 ISO 1600 55 mm

will try stacking, but i'm not optimistic that it will work with the changing background sky

Edit:

corrected comet name from C/2024 to C/2023