• iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • Lad Files
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Extinct
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

Submit Your Content
How to see incredibly rare comet that passes Earth once every 160,000 years this week

Home> News> Science

Updated 15:37 13 Jan 2025 GMTPublished 15:36 13 Jan 2025 GMT

How to see incredibly rare comet that passes Earth once every 160,000 years this week

Such a rare event in the history of the universe

Tom Earnshaw

Tom Earnshaw

Featured Image Credit: NASA/Donald Petit/Getty Stock Image

Topics: Space, World News, Weird, Viral

Tom Earnshaw
Tom Earnshaw

Tom joined LADbible Group in 2024, currently working as SEO Lead across all brands including LADbible, UNILAD, SPORTbible, Tyla, UNILAD Tech, and GAMINGbible. He moved to the company from Reach plc where he enjoyed spells as a content editor and senior reporter for one of the country's most-read local news brands, LancsLive. When he's not in work, Tom spends his adult life as a suffering Manchester United supporter after a childhood filled with trebles and Premier League titles. You can't have it all forever, I suppose.

X

@TREarnshaw

Advert

Advert

Advert

A comet visible only once every 160,000 years is set to fly by Earth. And there's a pretty decent chance you can see it.

Called C/2024 G3 Atlas, the sub-zero icy space rock is set to be visible from planet Earth in the next week.

First spotted back in April 2014 by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) in Chile.

At the time of its first sighting, the comet had been a staggering 400 million miles away from humanity.

Advert

Then, it was 158,000 times dimmer than the feinted star visible from Earth. So, basically, absolutely no chance of spotting it without the best of the best scientific equipment.

A stunning image of the G3 Atlas comet captured by NASA astronaut Donald Petit (NASA / Donald Petit)
A stunning image of the G3 Atlas comet captured by NASA astronaut Donald Petit (NASA / Donald Petit)

G3 Atlas comet's journey through space

Now, G3 Atlas is set to reach something called its peak perihelion. This is the moment on its journey through space when it is closest to the Sun.

Dr Shyam Balaji, a researcher in astroparticle physics and cosmology at King’s College London, said: “As with all comets, its visibility and brightness can be unpredictable.

Advert

“Observers may have opportunities to spot it in the days around perihelion, depending on local conditions and the comet’s behaviour.

“The comet’s brightness will be influenced by its proximity to the Sun, which causes ice and frozen gases to sublimate, creating a coma and potentially a tail. While some predictions suggest it could become quite bright, comet brightness predictions are notoriously uncertain.”

The comet's peak perihelion will be today (13 January), meaning it could be visible once darkness falls.

Here's hoping it's a clear night (Getty Stock Image)
Here's hoping it's a clear night (Getty Stock Image)

Seeing the G3 Atlas comet

If timed correctly, the G3 Atlas comet could be the brightest comet we have been able to see in the United Kingdom in the last 20 years.

Advert

As always with the UK, visibility is the big factor.

With recent weather being grim, and fog settling in across many parts of the country after recent snow and ice showers, hope is lower than it might have otherwise been.

Dr Balaji said if you want to see the comet you should find a location away from bright city lights, with binoculars or a small telescope your best shout, The Telegraph reported.

It won't be a blink and you'll miss it event, thankfully, with the journey taking amount of time equivalent to days on Earth.

Advert

According to mobile stargazing app Star Walk, it'll be visible up until 18 January.

Those in the Southern Hemisphere will get the best view of the comet due to its position in relation to the Earth.

Choose your content:

9 hours ago
10 hours ago
  • 9 hours ago

    Everything we know about Texas floods that have killed at least 121 as Trump arrives at disaster site

    The President and the First Lady have headed to the state one week after the horror floods wreaked havoc

    News
  • 9 hours ago

    Scientists make surprising discovery at what lies under Antarctic ice sheet after its been covered in ice for 34 million years

    It could help scientists predict the future of the ice sheet

    News
  • 10 hours ago

    Paedophile to be surgically castrated after raping girl, 6, in nation's shock new punishment tactic

    It comes a year after a law was passed in Madagascar permitting the controversial punishment

    News
  • 10 hours ago

    Scientists think they've worked out what unknown interstellar object in our solar system is

    It came from outside our own solar system

    News
  • NASA experts explain if ‘dent’ in Earth’s magnetic field will hurt humanity as it slowly splits in to two
  • Comet not seen in last 80,000 years set to be visible from earth in once-in-a-lifetime event
  • How to see once-in-a-lifetime 'Mother of Dragons' green comet visible in the sky tonight
  • Millions will be able to see four planets align in the sky with naked eye in rare cosmic event this month