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Okay, this is starting to get really weird. At the same time that the Middle East is erupting in flames, the U.S. is being pummeled by major natural disasters and we are preparing for the most pivotal election in modern history, extremely unusual things are happening in the heavens. The “Comet of the Century” is making a spectacular run past our planet, the Sun has unleashed an extremely powerful coronal mass ejection, a “second Moon” is now orbiting our world, and it is being suggested that we are witnessing an “intriguing alignment of constellations and stars” that appears to relate...

Explanation: A bright comet is moving into the evening skies. C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) has brightened and even though it is now easily visible to the unaided eye, it is so near to the Sun that it is still difficult to see. Pictured, Comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS was captured just before sunrise from an Andes Mountain in Peru. Braving cold weather, this unusually high perch gave the astrophotographer such a low eastern horizon that the comet was obvious in the pre-dawn sky. Visible in the featured image is not only an impressively long dust tail extending over many degrees, but an impressively long...

Explanation: Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) is growing brighter in planet Earth's sky. Fondly known as comet A3, this new visitor to the inner Solar System is traveling from the distant Oort cloud. The comet reached perihelion, its closest approach to the Sun, on September 27 and will reach perigee, its closest to our fair planet, on October 12, by then becoming an evening sky apparition. But comet A3 was an early morning riser on September 30 when this image was made. Its bright coma and already long tail share a pre-dawn skyscape from Praia Grande, Santa Catarina in southern Brazil...

Explanation: What will happen as this already bright comet approaches? Optimistic predictions have Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) briefly becoming easily visible to the unaided eye -- although the future brightness of comets are notoriously hard to predict, and this comet may even break up in warming sunlight. What is certain is that the comet is now unexpectedly bright and is on track to pass its closest to the Sun (0.39 AU) later this week and closest to the Earth (0.47 AU) early next month. The featured image was taken in late May as Comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS, discovered only last year, passed...

Could Comet A3 become another Great Comet, or even simply reach naked-eye brightness? We'll find out in autumn 2024... Have you heard about Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) yet? Comet observers are all hoping for big things from comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) in autumn 2024. When it was discovered, it was hailed as a potential ‘comet of the century’ and calculations suggested it might become as bright as mag. -4! It’s now thought that at best A3 will reach mag. +0.4, a lot fainter but still much brighter than the last really bright comet, C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE), which delighted sky-watchers in...

Explanation: Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS is now visible in the early morning sky. Diving into the inner Solar System at an odd angle, this large dirty iceberg will pass its closest to the Sun -- between the orbits of Mercury and Venus -- in just two days. Long camera exposures are now capturing C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS), sometimes abbreviated as just A3, and its dust tail before and during sunrise. The featured image composite was taken four days ago and captured the comet as it rose above Lake George, NSW, Australia. Vertical bands further left are images of the comet as the rising...

The Tsuchinshan-ATLAS comet, also named C/2023 A3, will reach its closest approach to the Sun, or perihelion, on Friday, September 27, 2024, at a distance of 59 million kilometers. As the comet journeys through the inner solar system, it offers an impressive display.... In the United States... From September 27 to September 30, the comet will be best observed in the southeastern sky, about an hour before dawn.... ...the comet will be visible again in mid-October. On October 13, it will be at its closest to Earth, around 71 million kilometers away, and will be observable after sunset, looking west....

Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) has the potential to put on a stellar showThere's a new comet in the sky that has gained a lot of attention lately over its potential to become visible to the naked eye. Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) was discovered by observatories in China and South Africa in early 2023. Believed to have originated from the Oort Cloud — a giant spherical shell that surrounds our solar system and contains billions of icy objects — this little comet has been slowly making its way into our solar system. At the moment, Comet C/2023 A3 is roughly 175...

According to the Minor Planet Center, the comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) was discovered on February 22 by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Late Alert System (ATLAS) telescope project in South Africa. When astronomers at China's Purple Mountain Observatory found the comet independently on January 9, both observatories are mentioned in the comet's complete name. Skywatchers throughout the world have subsequently seen it in fresh and old photos, with the first discovery being on December 12, 2022, in photographs obtained by a wide-field camera on a telescope at Palomar Observatory in California. Meanwhile, EarthSky reports that C/2023 A3 is currently between Saturn and...