JACKSON (WNE) — Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS should be more visible in area skies this week after smoke from wildfires has cleared and stormy weather has moved out.
The comet, named for the two observatories in China and South Africa that jointly received credit for discovering it last year, is visible in the western sky just after sunset. Although it is getting farther away, it should be visible through about Oct. 30.
Samuel Singer from Wyoming Stargazing gave the following tips on finding it: Right after sunset, Venus will be on the western horizon. It’s the brightest point. Draw a 45-degree angle up and to the right. Then use your outstretched hand and measure the distance from your wrist to your pointer finger. That’s about the distance of the comet’s location. It will become brighter once Venus sets.
“These comets are the leftover bits from the formation of the solar system,” Singer said.
When planets were forming some 4 billion to 5 billion years ago, space rocks crashed into each other, and some stuck together and became planets. The ones that didn’t stick together are still roaming the atmosphere, like a “time capsule” of the solar system, Singer said.
He said comets are like “dirty snowballs,” made up of mostly ice, with dust and rock coating the ice.
“When they get close to the sun, it goes from a solid to a gas and you get those nice long tails,” Singer said.
This comet is notable for its long tail. It’s about 18 million miles long, Singer said. That’s 72 times farther than the distance to the moon from Earth.
