The Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS is a rare event to bear witness to as it occurs around every 80 thousand years. The last time the comet came close to Earth, human civilization as we know it, didn’t exist.
On October 12th, the Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS was at its brightest, passing from a distance of 44 million miles and 71 million kilometers. If you wish to see it in Texas, however, it can be seen till the end of October, about 1 hour after sunset.
To locate the Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, observe the western sky where the sun sets, it is about two fists up right from Venus. it begins disappearing about 1-2 hours after sunset and to recognize it, simply look for the brightest object in the sky.
The sight is mainly made of ice, rock, and dust, similar to your typical comet. This comet in particular was about 3.2 kilometers in diameter, around 2 miles, which is considered average size.
Due to its makeup of rock, ice, and dust, it leaves behind a tail mostly made of ice, a feature not many comets possess, which makes it even more special.
Bridget Buchanan, a Junior at Meridian World School, went to see the comet and shared “Seeing the comet was a very cool and interesting experience.”
It took a while to find; her family and I stopped at a country road with a telescope and binoculars, but only the binoculars worked. She wasn’t expecting the binoculars to work so well, but it truly enhanced the image.
With the naked eye, it looked like a slight, white smudge on the sky, barely visible. With the binoculars, she could see the comet and the white tail.
“It looked like a cartoon, it was so beautiful. Crazy to think that it’s moving at an insanely fast speed when it looks completely still to us”.