WATCH: Historic Comet Streaks Through NJ Skies

NEW JERSEY — Sky-gazers in the Garden State have been treated to a number of spectacular sights in recent weeks: A lunar eclipse, the aurora borealis, and now a comet that is truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

In fact, it has been many lifetimes since Comet C/2023A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS passed close to Earth — and this is the first time in recorded human history that it has appeared to the naked eye.

Patch reader Steven Davis shared several photos with us from Cherry Hill, where he saw the comet streaking through the sky on Monday night.

Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS will again be visible Wednesday after sunset and will set within two hours, though it won't be as bright as on Monday or Tuesday.

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

Davis said he captured these photos with a Canon R7 camera that he set up on a tripod, using a 24-105mm lens with a six-second exposure time.

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.

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.

Related article — ‘Comet Of The Century’ Appears In NJ Skies: Last Chance To See It