Henry Lanouette and his wife Kathy went into their Longmeadow backyard with binoculars and looked for the old comet together.

“It was very exciting to see this. We had heard so much about it on the news,” Lanouette said. “We saw Starlink (satellite) trains, so this was another special event for us.”

According to NASA, the comet was last visible from Earth when Neanderthals roamed the Earth about 80,000 years ago.

Due to its proximity to Earth, the comet will be visible to the naked eye until October 24, astronomers say.

“It’s a rare opportunity to see this comet with the naked eye, especially for something that might not return for 80,000 years.” said Brigitte Gil, who saw the comet in Westport. “Looking up at the night sky is my favorite reminder that we are just a small part of a much bigger picture.”

The comet, called Tsuchinshan-ATLAS is the brightest since Comet NEOWISE passed by in 2020 and can be seen with the naked eye even in city centers and areas with light pollution. This year’s comet is not only brighter, but also rarer, as Comet NEOWISE is expected to return in just 6,800 years.

On Tuesday evening, Steve Butler headed to Mashnee Island in Bourne shortly after sunset. Under a beautiful clear sky, he found a beautiful view of the western horizon and used a portable telescope to track the comet.

“The comet is quite awe-inspiring to see. The fact that it has been circling the solar system for more than 80,000 years until it returns to orbit around the sun is truly astonishing,” said Butler. “It makes me realize how small we all really are in a universe that constantly throws us amazing surprises.”

Seeing the comet was nostalgic for Justin Murray, who stared at Comet Hale-Bopp with his father around 1996 when he was five.

Some 28 years later, Murray found himself chasing a comet again on Route 56 in Leicester.

“I saw a family where the kids were having trouble seeing it, so I invited them over to look at my camera and they loved how clearly I could zoom in so they could see it,” Murray said. “It reminded me of how my dad got me excited about Hale-Bopp and I’m glad I was able to pass on that excitement.”

According to NASA, the comet reached its maximum brightness during its closest approach to Earth on Saturday, passing within a radius of about 45 million miles.

Michael Ren caught the comet at its zenith after sunset on Saturday from Great Blue Hill in the Blue Hills Reserve. Despite the city lights, the comet’s tail was still clearly visible in the night sky, a sight he won’t soon forget.

“Every now and then I think about all the events I missed because I was too young, or events I won’t attend. I think of the people who were lucky enough to witness them, even if they didn’t know how remarkable they were,” Ren said on Wednesday.

The comet was first identified in 2023 by China’s Tsuchinshan – or ‘Purple Mountain’ – observatory and an ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) telescope in South Africa, NASA said.

The astronomical visitor disappeared earlier this year, but was spotted again last month in the Southern Hemisphere and has since been visible in the Northern Hemisphere, NASA said. It will rise higher in the sky every evening, making it easier to observe, but will also become increasingly faint until the end of October, NASA said.

Chiquita Laurita saw the comet on Plum Island on Saturday evening. From the historic solar eclipse in April to the Northern Lights that emerged last week, this year has been full of remarkable celestial events, she said.

“What makes this comet observation so special is that it will be a once-in-a-lifetime observation of this specific comet, and I can’t wait to see what else we will discover in our universe,” Laurita said.

The comet originates from the Oort Cloud, a giant spherical shell that surrounds our solar system and, according to NASA, “resembles a large, thick-walled bubble made of icy pieces of space debris.”

“Like the other celestial wonders we’ve been treated to in New England this year, I was impressed yesterday by the mix of the known and the unknown,” said Timothy Carter, who saw the comet from Lexington on Tuesday evening. “I was driving home and I thought… ‘thank you universe.’”

Erik Fraser observed the comet on October 12 when it was at its peak. He went to the Prospect Hill lookout in Harvard, Massachusetts, and caught a breathtaking view as the sun set.

“It was amazing to see and capture this ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ comet,” Fraser said.

Girish Joshi also happened to be on Prospect Hill that same night, looking for the celestial body in the sky. He said seeing the comet that once graced Earth many millennia ago made him feel more connected to the planet and its history.

“The last time this comet appeared in the night sky, I’m sure the Neanderthals looked at it in awe,” Joshi said. “After 80,000 years, we witnessed it with the same excitement as our icy friend made its journey back to the Oort Cloud.”

To see the comet, people should adjust their eyes to the dark and look along the western horizon shortly after sunset, astronomers said. And be patient.

“Stay outside as long as possible; it will set as you look at it, but it will also darken. This benefits the observer in two ways. First, the object will be clearer. And second, your eyes will be better adapted to the dark,” says Tim Brothers, manager of the MIT Wallace Astrophysical Observatory.

According to Forbes’ comet tracker, the most ideal time to view the comet is 45 minutes after sunset on Wednesday evening. The comet will be visible above the western horizon and set about two hours later.

Wayne Collamore, who viewed the comet from Phinney’s Harbor at Monument Beach and Bourne Bridge on Saturday, said the sight was “amazing and humbling at the same time”.

“Each event is unique and observing it is an experience unlike any other,” he said.

Sabrina Lam can be reached at [email protected].