Comet A3, also known as as Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, may be visible from the Northern Hemisphere, from as early as Monday (October 14) — the last time of which was over 80 millennia ago.
The comet flies over Earth and is visible only every 80,000 years, with NASA astronomer Bill Cooke saying that the comet will be best visible with a good DSLR camera. However, you still may get good results with a small telescope and your phone camera.
To best view the comet, Mr Cooke said that you should choose a "dark vantage point just after full nightfall, and look to the southwest."
If you have a small telescope, Mr Cooke said that holding your phone camera to the eyepiece ‘worked well with comets like NEOWISE and might work well with this one, depending on how bright it is.
"If it’s genuinely easy to spot, you might be able to pick up your mobile phone, rest on something, and just point and shoot."
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The comet is set to be visible between October 12 and 30 after already being visible from September 27 and October 2, before disappearing again for what’s expected to be another 80,000 years.
The comet was discovered in 2023 by a Chinese and South African observatory, and comes from the "Oort cloud", a spherical shell that surrounds the solar system.
Its route after passing by Earth is unknown, but Mr Cooke added that it could be flung out "like a stone from a sling" into the solar system.
However, Mr Cooke added that he learned "a long time ago not to bet on comets… we’ll just have to wait and see."
* This article was originally published on Extra.ie.
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