A truly once in a lifetime comet is going to be visible in Texas until the end of October as it travels away from Earth at 180 thousand miles an hour.

The comet named A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS 2023 was discovered last year but its theorized to have passed by Earths 80,000 years ago.

It’s Not Too Late to Witness the Rare Comet

The comet was most visible in Texas Saturday, October 12th however, there’s still time to witness this rare sighting. Johnny Barton with the Central Texas Astronomical Society explains where and when you need to look up at the sky to find the comet, “It’s going to take it till about 7:30-7:45, maybe closer towards 8 o’clock, for it to get dark enough to see… and it’s going to be in that same area where the sun went down.”

Where Does the Name “A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS 2023” Come From?

A3

“A3" indicates that it was the 3rd comet to be discovered in the 1st half of January of that year "B" would represent the second half of January, "C" represents the first half of February, and so on(according to AstroBin.)

Tsuchinshan-ATLAS

Comets are typically named after those who discovered it. "Tsuchinshan" came from the fact that it was first seen at the Tsuchinshan Chinese Observatory.

The Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) officially confirmed it after.

2023

This indicates the year it was first discovered.

So grab your binoculars or even a smartphone and snap some photos of this ultra rare sighting. Act fast because the comet with continue to get dimmer as it continues to travel away from Earth.