WORD — Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS has been visible to the naked eye in the United States since this weekend. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Montana residents like Worden resident Jennifer Bagley, who was able to take photos of the comet in her backyard.

As a professional photographer, Bagley wasn’t going to miss her photo as the comet raced overhead.

“It happens every 80,000 years, so it’s the only time you can see it,” Bagley said Monday at her home in Worden. “I looked at my husband and thought, ‘Oh, the comet is gone.’ I have to go see it.”

Despite being 45 million miles away, Bagley was able to take this photo of the comet.

Jennifer Bagley

“I was super excited to see it… a lot of people didn’t even know it was happening and so most people are like, ‘Oh, how did you find that out?’ I’m like, ‘Well, it’s there.’ You just have to go outside and look at the sky,” Bagley said. “You’ll be amazed.”

She was not the only one in Worden with a bright idea.

“I looked for maybe, I don’t know, 20, 30 minutes and didn’t see anything. And finally it got dark enough and I started seeing a little bit of it. And the longer I waited, it finally showed up,” says science teacher Rick Dees of the Huntley Project.

Dees took photos of the comet near Roundup on Sunday evening.

“I’ve only seen maybe three of these things. And so it’s not every day you see one of these,” Dees said. “That’s quite exciting, so it’s a good time to become a science teacher.

Rik Dees

“It comes from the Oort Cloud, which makes it what we call a long-period comet. These things don’t look like Halley’s Comet, where they will revisit within human lifetimes,” said MSU Billings associate professor Steven Wiles.

Wiles said the last humans likely to have seen the comet were Neanderthals.

“You think to yourself, you know, if I lived a thousand years ago or ten thousand years ago, I would be watching that. I would be terrified. But today I know what it is,” Wiles joked.

Matthew Dominiek

It’s a rare sight, but it should be visible for the rest of the week.

“If you want to see the head of the comet, then even binoculars will probably give you a pretty good view. And you’ll want to look west. This Saturday will probably be like, wait a minute, raise your arm a few fists above where the sun sets,” Wiles said.

“If you have five seconds, five minutes or whatever to look at it, do it. Take a picture. Take a picture,” Bagley said.