JACKSON, Wyo. — The Oort Cloud Comet, also known as Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, allegedly hasn’t been seen on Earth since the Neanderthals existed about 80,000 years ago. Starting this weekend, it has the likelihood of being visible to the naked eye.
According to NASA, this comet was identified in 2023 as it approached the inner solar system for the first time in documented human history. Observers at China’s Tsuchinshan Observatory and an ATLAS telescope in South Africa identified it, and thus it was named in honor of both observatories.
NASA confirms the Oort Cloud Comet will make its first close pass by Earth and be most visible Oct. 9 and 10, and on Oct. 12 it will come within approximately 44 million miles of our planet. By Oct. 14, the comet should still be visible at the midway point between the bright star Arcturus and the planet Venus.
“Mark those calendars – because it won’t be back for another 80,000 years.”
NASA
“Mark those calendars – because it won’t be back for another 80,000 years,” NASA writes on their website.
NASA suggests that the Southern Hemisphere will have the most ideal position to view the Comet, but viewers above the equator also have a likely chance. Those looking for the Comet should choose a dark vantage point just after a full nightfall, looking to the southwest roughly 10 degrees above the horizon.
By early November, NASA confirms the comet will be gone again for the next 800 centuries.
