SPOKANE, Wash. — A very old comet, just discovered in 2023, will be making an appearance in the night sky for the next couple of weeks.
Comet C/2023 A3, also known as the Tsuchinshan-ATLAS*, will be visible between October 14 and October 24, according to NASA.
It may be visible to the naked eye after sunset in that time frame, but using binoculars or a small telescope will capture it, too.
Scientists believe this comet came from the Oort Cloud, which is a large, spherical shell of icy debris at the outer reaches of our solar system. The Oort Cloud reaches far beyond Pluto and most distant edges of the Kuiper Belt. NASA believes it could have billions or trillions of objects inside of it.
Experts believe this is a once-in-80,000-years event. When a comet gets near our sun, it creates heat that causes the comet’s ice to turn into gas; the gas and dust that trail the comet become the “tail,” and it can be millions of miles long.
*Tsuchinshan-ATLAS is pronounced “TOOCH-shin-shon Atlas.” It was first discovered in 2023 by observers at China’s Tsuchinshan (“Purple Mountain”) Observatory, as well as on the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) telescope in South Africa.
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