The comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-Atlas will be visible in the Northern Hemisphere sky between 11 and 12 October.
The brightest comet to grace European skies in the past 13 years will likely be visible to the naked eye or with binoculars.
Currently obscured by its proximity to the sun, the comet will approach Earth, coming as close as 71 million kilometres on 12 October.
Before this, the comet will pass between the sun and Earth, significantly increasing in brightness and making it easier to spot by the end of the week. It will appear in the western sky at dusk.
C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-Atlas is a non-periodic comet, indicated by the letter C in its name. This means it orbits the sun over a period ranging from 200 to thousands of years.
The code 2023 A3 denotes the year and period of its observation (A3 corresponds to the first half of January). Tsuchinshan-Atlas are the names of the observatories whose telescopes first detected the comet.
By the end of October, the comet will move away from Earth and head towards the outer regions of the solar system for the next 20 years. It will not come near our planet again for another 26,000 years.
