Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, also known as Comet C/2023 A3, will be at its brightest, and likely visible to the naked eye, for a week or two after October 12, 2024 the day it’s closest to Earth—just look to the western sky shortly after sunset. As the days pass, the comet will get fainter and move to a higher part of the sky.

Comet NEOWISE is a long period comet with a near-parabolic orbit. Photographed at Lake Sonoma after sundown. The comet had a blue ion tails. Of the two tails evident, the blue ion tail on the left points directly away from the Sun and is pushed out by the flowing and charged solar wind.