Photos show a rare comet streaking across the Pennsylvania sky in a once-in-a-lifetime moment

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – An ancient, rare comet is passing by Earth, and some people in the Pittsburgh area have seen the once-in-a-lifetime comet streak across the sky.

On Tuesday, KDKA-TV's Jessica Guay and Ian Smith captured the comet, known as Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, in the sky. The incredible comet was closest to Earth on October 13, but will be visible in the sky after sunset every day until the end of October.

The best time to view the comet is between today and October 24th.

What is Atlas Comet?

NASA said the Oort Cloud comet, named C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, was spotted in 2023 by observers in China and a telescope in South Africa.

NASA said the comet is expected to be “approximately 44 million miles from Earth” on October 12.

Here's how to see the Atlas Comet

Experts told KDKA-TV that the comet is visible to the naked eye, but using binoculars or a telescope is helpful.

It is “highly unlikely” that it will be visible in daylight, NASA said. So look for it after sunset, weather permitting.

“Just after sunset, if you look to the west, maybe a little to the south, you should see the comet, right when the sun's glare disappears, and a coma, the dirty snowball part, has a big, long trail that always pointing away from the Sun,” astronomer Diane Turnshek, an associate professor of physics at Carnegie Mellon University and an associate professor in the University of Pittsburgh's Department of Physics and Astronomy, told KDKA-TV last week.

You can photograph the comet with your phone Night mode/longer exposure times.

If you don't see this rare astronomical event, you're out of luck.

“It happens once every 80,000 years. That may seem like a lot to you, but Neanderthals were walking the Earth at that time, so maybe they saw it,” astronomer Simonetta Frittelli, an associate professor of physics at Duquesne University, told KDKA-TV last week.