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    • Comet visible in the night sky only occurs every 80,000 years
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    Comet visible in the night sky only occurs every 80,000 years

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    Miss this one and there is no second chance.

    Comet C/2023 A3 Tschinshan-ATLAS will be at its closest point to Earth on Saturday, 70 million kilometers, and should be visible to the naked eye in the western sky just after sunset. The comet will be visible until October, first without and later with binoculars. But once it goes away, it won’t come back for another 80,000 years.

    “This weekend will be one of the better times to spot it; it’s coming out of the glare of the sun,” said Shannon Schmoll, director of the Abrams Planetarium at Michigan State University.

    Comets are large objects made of dust and ice that orbit the sun. Best known for their long, wavy tails, these ancient objects are remnants of the formation of the solar system 4.6 billion years ago. The now appearing comet took its name from those who first discovered it last year: the Tsuchinshan or “Purple Mountain” Observatory in China and the ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) telescope in South Africa .

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    Tsuchinshan-ATLAS emerges from the Oort Cloud, a barrier of icy debris surrounding our solar system, far beyond Pluto. Some comets orbit the Earth with relative frequency; one so-called Encke’s Comet visits every 3.3 years. Halley’s famous comet occurs every 76 years. It was last visible from Earth in 1986 and will return in 2061.

    But Tsuchinshan-ATLAS’s orbit is highly elliptical, meaning it won’t make another visit to the inner solar system for at least 80,000 years.

    Because comets are made of ice, many comets do not survive their close encounter with our sun. But Tsuchinshan-ATLAS survived its briefest pass by the sun on September 27 and continues its journey.

    How can you tell? Look west-southwest about 30 to 45 minutes after sunset and it should be low on the horizon, Schmoll said. Because it is so low, an unobstructed western view will help, she said. It should be near the bright star Arcturus and the bright planet Venus as they rise in the night sky, and should be between them on Monday.

    “It should also be visible for the rest of October, but as it continues to move it will get higher in the night sky, but further away from the sun, so less bright,” Schmoll said. “At the end of October you will probably need binoculars to view it.

    “We’re not going to see this particular comet again, and it’s definitely worth going out.”

    Contact Keith Matheny: [email protected].

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