Chris Schur, taken from Payson, Arizona
Bright comets like Tsuchinshan-ATLAS (C/2023 A3) — captured here with an 6-minute exposure on an 8-inch RASA — sometimes develop an anti-tail. This secondary tail appears to protrude forward from the comet’s nucleus in the opposite direction of the “normal” tail. An anti-tail is a perspective effect created when dust left behind in the comet’s orbit appears to point toward the Sun.
Editor’s note: This page was updated Oct. 18 to clarify and correct the description of how the appearance of an anti-tail is generated.