Rare Comet Appears on Earth’s Horizon; Won’t Return for 80,000 Years

Comets look okay to the unaided eye, but with a pair of binoculars, they’ll knock your socks off.

Bill Cooke, lead of NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office, on a newly discovered comet, visible in the Northern Hemisphere for the rest of October.

Why It Matters: This comet will not pass by Earth for another 80,000 years, and we’ll be able to see it, unaided at times or with binoculars, until the end of October, though the comet’s brightness will fade as the month progresses.

“The comet will initially appear low on the western horizon in the glow of twilight about 45 minutes after sunset each day starting Saturday, Oct. 12, through the end of the month, Cooke said.” (NPR)

Discovered only last year, the comet’s given name (C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) includes the year of observation and the locations observers first saw it: the Purple Mountain Observatory in China (Tsuchinshan), and an Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) telescope in South Africa.

What is a comet? “Comets are large objects made of dust and ice that orbit the Sun. Best known for their long, streaming tails, these ancient objects are leftovers from the formation of the solar system 4.6 billion years ago.” (NASA)

October’s night skies will feature many rare events – including sightings of the northern lights or aurora Borealis further south than usual in the United States, a Hunter’s supermoon (the brightest full moon in 2024) and a meteor shower.

Read More: Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS Arrives from Afar (NASA)

How to see a once-in-a-lifetime comet Saturday and beyond (Axios)

Rare comet to streak across night sky. Here’s how you can see it (NPR)

Image Credit: William Hooks