Newly discovered comet brightens, grows tail as it heads toward Earth: report

US News

By Steve Janoski

A newly-discovered comet is set to pass Earth in October — and by the time it does, it may be as bright as Venus in the night sky, making it visible to the naked eye.

The comet — named Tsuchinshan-ATLAS — is only visible by telescope at the moment as it travels between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, according to Forbes.

But the potential “comet of the year” is brightening up and growing a tail — meaning that by the time it makes its autumnal pass, the long-period comet with an 80,000-year orbit might stick out as much as earthly neighbor Venus in the night sky.

Still, it’s impossible to know exactly how luminescent the cluster of rock, ice and gas will be, Forbes said.

And even though it might be tough for those in the Northern Hemisphere to track it due to its low-on-the-horizon stance, the best chance will be on its closest approach to the sun on Oct. 10, according to the outlet.

It will be easiest to see just afterward, when it will streak across the southwest sky just after sunset.

The comet — which hails from the Oort Cloud, a sphere of comets that rings the solar system — was discovered by astronomers at both South Africa’s Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) telescope and China’s Tsuchinshan Observator in February, Forbes said.