Rare comet you can see in the Colorado sky, won't return for 80,000 years

It has been an incredibly busy year with regards to space weather. Two massive solar flares have resulted in the aurora borealis dancing across just about all of the United States. A comet, discovered last year, is orbiting Earth through late October and won't return for 80,000 years.  

This week will be another busy one. Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS (C/2023 A3) will likely remain visible to the naked eye through October 21st and the largest supermoon of the year will rise on Thursday.

Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS (C/2023 A3) was discovered last year at the Tsuchinshan Chinese Observatory. The comet came from the Oort Cloud, more than 93 million miles away, which contains icy debris. The Oort Cloud surrounds our solar system.

"Though the comet is very old, it was just discovered in 2023, when it approached the inner solar system on its highly elliptical orbit for the first time in documented human history," according to NASA. "The comet hails from the Oort Cloud, which scientists think is a giant spherical shell surrounding our solar system. It is like a big, thick-walled bubble made of icy pieces of space debris the sizes of mountains and sometimes larger. The Oort Cloud lies far beyond Pluto and the most distant edges of the Kuiper Belt and may contain billions, or even trillions, of objects."   

The comet is moving at approximately 150,000 MPH and has an orbital period of 80,000 years, making this a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.  

VIEWING THE COMET  

The comet will be visible through October 24th. However, it is halving in brightness each day and moving higher and higher above the horizon.  

Prime viewing conditions will occur roughly 45 minutes after sunset, simply look to the west. As it becomes less and less bright, a telescope is recommended.