Striking photos show stunning, once-in-a-lifetime comet soaring over US

Comet C/2023A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, a rare, once-in-a-lifetime comet visible once every 80,000 years, has been spotted in different states across the United States over the weekend.

This weekend was "one of the better times to spot it" as "it's coming out of the sun's glare," Shannon Schmoll, director of the Abrams Planetarium at Michigan State University, told the Detroit Free Press, part of USA TODAY Network.

"The comet was visible primarily to those in the Southern Hemisphere and the Tropics until about October 8," NASA said in a statement. "Viewers in the Northern Hemisphere would get more opportunities to catch a glimpse in subsequent days."

NASA said the comet was expected to come an estimated 44 million miles from Earth on Saturday, October 12. The comet could reportedly be seen with the naked eye, but as Schmoll told the newspaper, viewers would need binoculars as the month progresses.

"It should be visible throughout the rest of October as well, but as it continues to move it is going to get higher in the night sky but farther away from the sun, so less bright," the expert said.

The comet made its closest pass by the Sun in late September.

The comet making its appearance now derived its name from those who first discovered it last year, the Tsuchinshan, or "Purple Mountain," Observatory in China and the ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) telescope in South Africa, the Detroit Free Press reported.

Some sightings have been reported in California, Virginia, and New Hampshire.

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Taylor Ardrey is a news reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her at [email protected].