Once-in-a-lifetime comet visible this week

Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) was seen traveling through the night sky Sunday. According to the National Weather Service, there’s a potential to see this comet throughout the entire week.  

The best chance to see this rare comet is about 45-minutes to 1-hour after sunset looking west and staying away from the city lights. As time progresses, visibility to the naked eye will run out. So, using a camera, binoculars or even a small telescope will be the better option.   

This is a once-in-a lifetime experience, as Tsuchinshan-ATLAS is in an 80,000-year orbit. 

On October 12, the comet came within 44 million miles of Earth. According to NASA, the comet comes from the Oort Cloud. This is believed to be a spherical shell surrounding our solar system.