KEARNEY — The night skies have been providing yet another celestial sight for stargazers, Comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS has been visible in the western sky throughout October.
C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) or simply Comet A3, is a comet from the Oort cloud that was discovered by the Purple Mountain Observatory in China on Jan. 9, 2023 and independently found by ATLAS in South Africa on Feb. 22, 2023.
The comet first became visible to the naked eye on Sept. 23, 2024 and achieved its peak magnitude after it passed the Sun on Oct. 9, 2024.
It made its closest approach to Earth on 12 October at a distance of 44 million miles.
“The comet after that became dimmer, as it moves away from both the Earth and the Sun, however as the elongation becomes higher, it becomes easier to spot. Earth crossed the orbital plane of the comet on 14 October and as a result an anti-tail was observed,” according to skyandtelecsope.org.
The comet will stay prominent through the week before the darker skies balance it out as it moves away from the Sun around Oct. 19 and Oct. 20.
The comet is visible above the southwestern horizon and can be seen between the planet Venus and the star Arcturus.
Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) with a passing train in the foreground, 10-15-24
