Over the next few days, a bright comet may be visible in skies around the world for the first time in 160,000 years.
NASA said it is “notoriously difficult” to predict the future brightness of comets, but Comet C/2024 G3 (Atlas) could remain bright enough to be visible to the naked eye.
On Monday, the comet was at perihelion, its closest point to the Sun, which affects how bright it appears. Experts say it could be visible starting Monday night.
The exact location of its visibility is unknown, but experts believe the comet, which can shine as brightly as Venus, is best seen from the Southern Hemisphere.
The comet was discovered last year by NASA’s Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System.
“Current orbital calculations show that this comet will pass about 8.3 million miles from the Sun,” said Dr Shyam Balaji, a researcher in star particle physics and cosmology at King’s College London, classifying it as a “sun-orbiting” comet.
The university explained that comets are an event that occurs once every 160,000 years.
Dr Balaji said the opportunity to spot a comet could occur “near perihelion, depending on local conditions and the behavior of the comet”.
“As with all comets, visibility and brightness are unpredictable,” he added.
Balaji said people living in the Southern Hemisphere, where the comet is expected to be best seen, “should look toward the eastern horizon before sunrise, (and) after perihelion, toward the western horizon after sunset.”
But Mr Balaji added that although the brightness of the comet was expected to be “very bright”, predictions of its brightness were “notoriously uncertain”, with many ending up dimmer than initially expected.
Observing comets and solar relativity can be difficult in the Northern Hemisphere, including the UK.
you can check BBC Weather Online Make sure the sky is clear enough to observe where you are.
Mr. Balaji advised people who want to spot comets to find a place away from light pollution and use binoculars or a small telescope.
He warned observers to be careful at sunrise and sunset times, and told them to track the comet’s position to find where it might appear in the sky.
Meanwhile, astronomers have been tracking the comet’s path.
Last Saturday, NASA astronaut Don Pettit shared a photo of the comet from the International Space Station on social media.
“It’s truly amazing to see a comet from orbit. Atlas C2024-G3 is visiting us,” he wrote.
