Excitement over the ‘comet of the century’ – here’s how and when to spot it

Tonight, stargazers will have the chance to see what could be the most impressive comet of the year.

Comet A3, also known as Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, has been dubbed the “comet of the century” by excited astronomers, such is the expectation of how bright and visible it can be.

People in the Southern Hemisphere have already caught a glimpse of the comet, but since it is approximately 44 million miles from Earth as of Saturday, it can be seen in the Northern Hemisphere as well.

So what is Comet A3 and how likely are we to get a good look at it?

When was it discovered?

The comet was discovered independently in January 2023 by two observatories – China’s Tsuchinshan (Purple Mountain) Observatory and South Africa’s ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) – and was named after them.

It visits the inner solar system roughly every 80,000 years, so it would have last been visible from Earth when Neanderthals roamed the planet.

where is he from

It comes from a place called the Oort Cloud, which Dr Robert Massey of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) says is an “incredibly large” distance from Earth, much further than the planets and asteroids we’re used to seeing.

The Oort cloud is “a large, thick-walled bubble made of icy chunks of space debris the size of mountains and sometimes larger,” according to NASA.

Most long-period comets, such as Comet A3, are thought to come from there.

When can it be seen?

It was visible between September 27 and October 2, but as it moves back from the sun, the next few weeks offer a better chance of seeing it in the northern hemisphere.

It will be at its closest point in its orbit to Earth tonight, so it’s a good time to try and catch a glimpse – although if you miss it, the comet should still be visible until October 30.

Look south-west just after sunset, which is around 6pm in the UK.

“Enjoy the view,” said NASA astronomer Bill Cook, because by early November the comet will disappear again for the next 800 centuries.

How bright can it be?

Dr Massey warned that the “comet of the century” may turn out to be no more than a nickname.

He said it would be a “nice comet,” but probably less visible than NEOWISE was in 2020 or Hale-Bopp in the late 1990s — and many stargazers remember the latter as ” a truly dazzling object’.

Mr Cook said comets are often difficult to predict because they are extended objects.

He said that if there’s a lot of forward scattering — which causes sunlight to bounce off more intensely from all the gas and debris in the comet’s tail and its coma — it could make them easier for observers to see.

Can I take a picture of it?

Dr. Massey suggests using “a good DSLR (digital single-lens reflex camera)” and trying for a range of exposures, as many astrophotographers do.

If you have a good cell phone camera and a small telescope, he said, you can “hold the cell phone up against the eyepiece of the telescope and try to take a picture that way.”

Dr Massey said this method “works well with comets like NEOWISE and may work well with this one, depending on how bright it is”.

“And if it’s really easy to spot, you might be able to take your cell phone, sit on something and just point and shoot,” he added.

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What will happen to him next?

mr Cook said comet A3 is not expected to pass too close to the planets, but eventually “could be thrown out of our solar system – like a slingshot – due to the gravitational influence of other worlds and its own tenuous relationship with the sun”.

But he said he “learned a long time ago not to bet on comets. We’ll have to wait and see.”