‘Comet Of The Century’ Appears In MD Skies: Last Chance To See It

MARYLAND — The so-called “comet of the century” has returned to the evening skies over Maryland, but there’s not much time to see Comet C/2023A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS before it disappears for another 80,000 years.

The space rock slinging toward Earth from the outer reaches of the solar system made its closest approach to our planet on Saturday, and it should continue to be bright for a few days, especially on Monday and Tuesday.

You’ll be able to see it through the end of October, but it will move higher in the sky and farther away from the sun as the month progresses and become more difficult to see. The comet should be visible to the naked eye in the coming days, but binoculars or a telescope give a better view.

Locally, the skies should be mostly clear for viewing in the coming days. Clear or mostly clear and sunny skies are predicted in the Baltimore region through the weekend.

On both nights, you may see a rare phenomenon known as anti “anti-tail” as Earth crosses through the comet’s orbital plane. It’s an optical illusion: dust particles left behind by the comet appear to point toward the sun, opposite the direction of the comet’s normal tail.

To see the comet, look to the western horizon about 45 minutes after sunset. The comet will be located along an imaginary line between the bright planet Venus and the bright star Arcturus.

On Monday, the comet will remain visible for about an hour and 20 minutes, about 20 minutes longer than on Sunday. On Tuesday, the comet will be visible for several minutes longer, for about an hour and 45 minutes.

The comet will again be visible Wednesday in the same approximate location and will set within two hours. The comet will remain in the sky longer as the month goes on, but as it gets farther away from Earth, won’t be as easy to see.

By Halloween, the comet will no longer be visible with the naked eye, according to Sky & Telescope, but comet watchers may be able to see it through binoculars until early November.

As Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS made its closest approach to the sun in September, it was visible in the predawn sky. As the view shifted to the evening sky as it came within 44 million miles of Earth on Saturday, the view shifted to the evening sky.

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Comets are frozen leftovers in what’s known as an Oort Cloud, a vast spherical region at the edge of our solar system from its formation billions of years ago. They heat up as they swing toward the sun, releasing their characteristic streaming tails.

Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS was picked up last year by the Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System, or ATLAS, at the Tsuchinshan Chinese Observatory in Purple Mountain, China. Scientists estimate the long-period comet has been making its way toward the inner solar system for about 80,000 Earth years at a speed of about 180,610 miles per hour.

The last humans to have seen the comet would have been the Neanderthals.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.

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