Exact date bright comet dubbed 'best of the year' will be visible to naked eye

A bright comet dubbed the 'best of the year' is set to light up the autumn sky.

Comet A3 is already visible to stargazers with the right equipment in the northern hemisphere, though it remains low on the horizon before dawn. The best views of the flying space object are anticipated around mid-October, when it might even become visible to the naked eye. It is rumoured that it could be one of the brightest comets in years after its discovery, though experts remain divided over whether this will be the case.

The Tsuchinshan Observatory in China first spotted the comet in January 2023, with Nasa's Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) independently detecting it later. This gave the comet its full name C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS), though most people are simply referring to it as Comet A3.

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Astronomers have been monitoring its journey for the best part of two years, observing as it brightens and moves closer to peak visibility. Unlike asteroids, which are purely rock, comets are made up of ice, rock, and gas. As they near the Sun, the heat transforms their ice into gases and releases dust particles trapped in the ice, creating their stunning tail. This latest comet has already been visible in the Southern Hemisphere and is now coming into view for those in the Northern Hemisphere.

While astronomers are now able to forecast the path of comets with a high degree of accuracy, predicting the brightness remains notoriously challenging. Robert Massey, Deputy Executive Director of the Royal Astronomical Society, said people with binoculars or a telescope can start looking for the comet now, and it will be visible in the northern hemisphere low in the eastern sky before dawn.

But a better chance to spot it will come from around October 12 after sunset - when it could be visible to the naked eye. He told the BBC: "Bright comets are quite rare, so if you do get a chance to see one, take a look, even if you have to use a pair of binoculars to pick out the tail and features. They're absolutely beautiful".