Can you see a comet soaring across the night sky?

Sign up for the Morning Brief email newsletter to get weekday updates from The Weather Channel and our meteorologists. Now is your once-in-a-lifetime chance to view one spectacular comet soaring across the night sky. Comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas, also known as comet A3, is potentially visible across the U.S. through Oct. 24.

Is Comet c/2023 A3 still visible?

Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) has not disappointed photographers. The photogenic comet is currently speeding away from Earth but is still visible in the Northern Hemisphere night sky for another week or so. It's grown fairly dim, but can still be seen easily with binoculars high in the southwestern sky after sunset above a bright Venus.

Can you see a comet at sunset?

The comet is currently high in the west at sunset as seen from the mid-latitudes of North America, but is dim enough that a pair of binoculars or small telescope is likely your best bet at this point.

Can you see a comet in a dark sky?

Check a light-pollution map or find a Dark Sky Place to observe from. Although its magnitude of +2.8 makes it technically visible in a dark sky, you'll almost certainly require binoculars or a small telescope to see it. An alternative is to photograph the comet with a camera or a smartphone; a long exposure image helps it show up more easily.

How big is a comet coma?

The comet’s coma measures around 130,000 miles (209,000 kilometers) in diameter, with a tail extending 18 million miles (29 million kilometers), but it's getting fainter and smaller as it heads off into the outer solar system — probably never to return. However, it remains a relatively bright, deep sky object visible well into darkness.

How did David Chapman see Comet A3?

View at EarthSky Community Photos. | David Chapman in Nova Scotia, Canada, sent us our first peek at Comet A3 in the evening sky. David took the photo just after sunset on October 11, 2024. David wrote that he detected the comet 45 minutes after sunset in binoculars and tracked it until it set at 7:45 p.m.