After the greatest display of the Northern lights, a brighter than star naked-eye comet is approaching Earth that can be witnessed this fall.
According to Space, the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) in South Africa on February 22, 2023, discovered the comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS).
Earlier it was thought to be an asteroid but later it was found that this same object was photographed by the Purple Mountain Observatory (Tsuchinshan) in the east of Nanjing, China six weeks ago.
When it was first sighted, it was some 680 million miles (1.09 billion km) beyond the orbit of Jupiter, but later, on September 27, 2024, Tsuchinshan–ATLAS would make the closest approach to the Sun, coming within 36 million miles (58 million km), which the distance from the Sun.
Moreover, two weeks later, on October 12, the comet will pass just 44 million miles (71 million km) from Earth.
Over the last couple of years, two comets, Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF), which was called the ‘Great Green Comet’ in February 2023 and Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, was informally named ‘Devil Comet’ last month, passed near the earth.
