How to See the Bright Comet Flaring Up in the Night Sky This Week

Adding to this year’s spectacular skywatching events—like the total solar eclipse and the Blaze Star that might soon erupt as a nova—a comet will dazzle the night skies as it passes by Earth this week.

The comet, called Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, or Comet C/2023 A3, was discovered last year and may offer viewers a once-in-a-lifetime sighting before potentially making a comeback in another 800 centuries.

“Bright comets are always spectacular, and this one will be the brightest comet since 2006,” says Bill Cooke, lead of NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office, to the Seattle Times’ Catalina Gaitán. “It’s certainly worth a look.”

By that prediction, Tsuchinshan-ATLAS will outshine comet Neowise, which dazzled astronomers in August 2020, and surpass the brightness of comet Mcnaught, which passed by the sun in 2007.

Those hoping to see the comet have a fair chance of spotting it in the next few days. It can be glimpsed at evening twilight, meaning the 25 minutes after sunset, on Thursday and Friday, October 10 and 11, per Space.com’s Joe Rao.

Even though it’s already been visible from the Southern Hemisphere, those in the United States might soon catch a glimpse by looking for the comet in the low western horizon, Cooke says to the Seattle Times.

What is Tsuchinshan-ATLAS?

Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS this morning from St Marks Wildlife Refuge. Visible to the naked eye and almost more impressive than NEOWISE (for me). Much brighter than Sunday, and it will likely get better in 10 days as it reappears in the western skies!#Astrophotography #FLwx @spann pic.twitter.com/0Cx7VmwxHf

— Wright Dobbs (@WrightDobbs) October 2, 2024

The passing comet, per tradition, was named for its discoverers: It was first spotted by astronomers at the Tsuchinshan Observatory in China in January 2023 and seen again a month later by an ATLAS telescope in South Africa.

Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS originates from the frozen debris of the Oort Cloud, at the outer edge of our solar system. Composed largely of rock, ice and frozen gases, the comet is accompanied by a fantastic tail spanning roughly 18 million miles, per Space.com.

It’s thought to be on a wide trajectory around our sun, taking 80,000 years to complete one orbit. That long of a path takes the comet far “out of the realm of the planets,” says Michelle Nichols, the director of public observing at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, to the New York Times’ Katrina Miller.

About two weeks ago, Tsuchinshan-ATLAS survived flying past the sun, a journey that many comets can’t withstand, NASA says in a statement. Now, as it makes its way out of the solar system, the comet is expected to put on a fantastic show for skywatchers.

How to see the bright comet

The best way to observe Tsuchinshan-ATLAS is to find a clear view of the western horizon after sunset, trying to avoid clouds. The comet will be closest to Earth around October 12, but it may be brightest on the evening of October 9.

Around sunset, the comet will be only a few degrees up off the horizon, per the Adler Planetarium. It’s at an angle where the comet’s debris might scatter sunlight toward Earth and boost its brightness, making it possibly as bright as Jupiter.

“It’ll be this fuzzy circle with a long tail stretching away from it,” says Sally Brummel, planetarium manager at the Bell Museum in Minnesota, to the Associated Press’ Adithi Ramakrishnan.

But scientists warn that people should avoid looking at the sun and should instead wait for the sun to go down before searching for the comet, Nichols tells the New York Times. Viewing the sun through binoculars without a filter will result in immediate and permanent eye damage.

Tsuchinshan-ATLAS will appear between the constellations of Sagittarius and Scorpio, according to NASA. And by October 14, the comet may be visible at the halfway point between Venus and the bright star Arcturus. As the month goes on, the comet will appear higher in the sky, but it will also grow dimmer.

For those who do manage to spot the comet, Cooke advises them to “savor the view,” per NASA—because if the icy celestial traveler ever comes by again, it won’t be for another 80,000 years.

Alexa Robles-Gil | | READ MORE

Alexa Robles-Gil is a bilingual science journalist based in New York City. Her work has appeared in the Guardian, Undark, Inside Climate News and more.