Comet which hasn’t been seen for 80,000 years ‘could outshine the stars’

Rob Waugh
C/2022 E3 (ZTF), a long-period comet from the Oort cloud, photographed on January 25, 2023 with a 135mm lens and cooled camera
C/2022 E3 (ZTF), a long-period comet from the Oort cloud - C/2023 A3 is expected to be even brighter (Getty) (Franco Tognarini via Getty Images)

A newly-detected comet which orbits the Sun just once every 80,660 years could blaze across the skies outshining the stars next year, astronomers have said.

The comet could become visible to the naked eye when it makes its closest approach to Earth on 13 October 2024.

The comet - known as C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) was spotted on February 2022 this year by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Late Alert System (ATLAS) telescope in South Africa.

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It was confirmed by astronomers at the Purple Mountain Observatory in China on January 9 - hence it bears both names.

When it was found, it was still 7.3 astronomical units (AU) from the sun - and is moving steadily towards the inner solar system.

The comet is travelling extremely fast, and moving at 180,610 miles per hour relative to Earth.

Researchers say it could become visible to amateur telescopes in June 2024, and could be brighter than this year’s green comet.

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The comet is thought to have come from the distant Oort cloud at the edge of the solar system.

The Oort Cloud is a spherical region almost a light-year in diameter and thought to contain hundreds of billions of comets.

Comets are the icy leftovers from the formation of the solar system 4.6 billion years ago.

Comets are notoriously unpredictable, researchers have said, and there is a chance that this one will disintegrate before making its approach next year.

Watch: Did you know: what's the difference between a comet and a meteor?

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