A once-in-a-lifetime comet will be visible for the first time in 160,000 years tonight.
Comet G3 ATLAS (C/2024), first spotted in April, is expected to be so vibrant that it will rival the brightness of Venus in the night sky .
The comet will reach peak perihelion – when it is closest to the sun – today (January 13) before returning to the depths of the cosmos. Currently, it is around 140,000,000 kilometres from Earth, according to observational tool TheSkyLive.
Scientists believe G3 ATLAS has passed by earth at least once before – 160,000 years ago, when humans were spreading across the world after leaving Africa.
The comet’s home is a trillion miles away, the thick icy bubble full of comets surrounding our solar system called the Oort Cloud.
For context in this 160,000-year-long orbit, Neptune, the planet furthest away from the sun, takes 165 years to do a solar lap. Pluto takes 248 years.
G3 ATLAS is passing through the constellation of Sagittarius and appears between the Sun and Pluto, meaning it’ll only be visible in the Southern Hemisphere.
Your best chance to see it right after sunset from mid-January to the rest of the month. It will be visible low on the horizon in the eastern sky just before sunrise or the western sky just after sunset.
But today will be when it’s at its brightest, and you won’t need a telescope or binoculars to see it. The comet will be coming three times closer to the sun than Mercury and 10 times closer than the Earth.
Stargazers are encouraged to head out to your nearest, tallest hill or take a trip to a flat shoreline with a pair of binoculars if you’d like a closer look.
Spend about half an hour outside in the dark before you start viewing, in order to give your eyes some time to adjust to the lack of light.
