Bright comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS could be visible without a telescope for the 1st time in 80,000 years. Here's how to see it this week.

A photograph of a bright white comet with a trail streaking behind in the starry night sky

After months of anticipation, Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS will be visible in the predawn sky starting this week (Image credit: Wladimir Bulgar / Science Photo Library via Getty Images)

Are you ready for a naked-eye comet? Although there are never any guarantees when it comes to comets, astronomers have high hopes that Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) will be visible in the hour before sunrise on four successive mornings this week. Further windows of naked-eye visibility in the evening sky could follow in mid-October.

C/2023 A3 is expected to peak in brightness on Friday, Sept. 27, when it reaches perihelion, its closest point to the sun on its estimated 80,000-year-long orbit. Skywatchers in the Northern Hemisphere will be able to glimpse the comet a few degrees above the east-southeast horizon about 30 minutes before sunrise between Friday, Sept. 27 and Wednesday, Oct. 2.

Although C/2023 A3 may be visible to the naked eye, comets can be fickle and difficult to predict, so it may be wise to have a good pair of stargazing binoculars or a small telescope to enhance the view.

However you view the comet, it should be possible to see a sizable dusty tail, a consequence of the comet's constituent dust and ice slightly melting as it approaches the sun. How bright it will get remains a mystery, though some astronomers predict it could be as luminous as the 20 brightest stars in the night sky.