A once-in-lifetime comet could light up Canada’s sky this weekend

From the northern lights to meteor showers, the night sky is a gift that keeps on giving and this weekend will feel like it’s wrapped in a bow. From coast to coast night owls could see a comet that won’t be back for another 80,000 years.

What is a comet?

Comets are described as “cosmic snowballs” made of dust, rock, and ice, according to NASA. 

“They range from a few miles to tens of miles wide,” they explain on their website.

“When a comet’s orbit brings it close to the Sun, it heats up and spews dust and gases into a giant glowing head larger than most planets.”

What to know

Known to astronomers as C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, this particular object was discovered about a year and a half ago, by the same telescope that discovered the Earth’s “mini-moon,” according to Brett Gladman, professor of astronomy at the University of British Columbia.

“Over the coming weekend, the comet will reach its closest distance to the sun,” he told Curiocity.

“They’re saying in the sky it will be visible in the early morning just before sunrise.”

As for whether or not it will be visible to the unaided eye? It could be, but if you’ve got field glasses, consider using those instead.

“Comets. You know, they’re basically like cats. They don’t behave. They’re very secretive. And you don’t know what they’re going to do until the last minute,” he explained.

“If you had a pair of binoculars, the binoculars basically increase the aperture of your eyes so that you collect more light so you can see fainter things.”

When and where to look

“The comet will pass nearest to Earth at 15:39 Universal Time (11:39 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time) on Oct. 12,” says Space.com

“At that moment, Tsuchinshan–ATLAS will be 43,911,824 miles (70,669,230 km) from our planet.”

Want to make sure you’re giving yourself the best chance of seeing it?

Start your engine!

“You want to go somewhere where it’s really dark to the west,” said Gladman.

“You want a really dark sky because the whole point of comets is they’ve got these tails and you can’t see the tails unless the sky is really dark.”

Good luck, and have fun out there, Canada.

It could be spectacular.