Those in Massachusetts and beyond may be treated to a once-in-80,000-years sight in the night sky in the coming days

Observers looking to the night sky may be treated to a once-in-80,000-years sight in autumn 2024.

According to NASA, “Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, which likely traveled from the outer reaches of our solar system, made its closest transit past the Sun on September 27 and was expected to come within approximately 70 million kilometers (44 million miles) of Earth on October 12. The comet was visible primarily to those in the Southern Hemisphere and the Tropics until about October 8.”

Viewers in Massachusetts and beyond will get opportunities to catch a glimpse in subsequent days (once the clouds move away)

“Crew aboard the International Space Station have also been observing Tsuchinshan-ATLAS on its journey through the inner solar system. An astronaut captured the above photo of the comet on September 19, 2024. At that time, the mass of dust, ice, and rock was approaching the closest point to the Sun on its highly elliptical orbit. The photo also offers a cross-section view of Earth’s bright horizon, or limb, and the planet’s colorful atmospheric layers.”