A newly-discovered comet might light up the night sky in the coming weeks, possibly shining even brighter than the planet Venus.
The comet, named Comet ATLAS (C/2024 G3), is making a beeline for the sun, and will come within 8.3 million miles of our star on January 13.
During this closest approach to the sun, the comet is predicted to shine brightly, possibly hitting a magnitude of -4.5, around the same as Venus. Others forecast that the comet could become even brighter, possibly becoming luminous enough to be visible during the daylight hours.
When will the comet be most visible?
Comet ATLAS (C/2024 G3) will reach its perihelion -- closest point to the sun -- on January 13, coming over three times closer to our star than the orbit of Mercury, and ten times closer than the Earth.
On this day, the comet will appear in the constellation Sagittarius. However, this means that it will be best viewed from the Southern Hemisphere, only appearing very low in the sky in the Northern Hemisphere, if it is visible at all.
The comet will also be very close to the sun in the sky during its brightest point, meaning that it will be quite hard to observe without specialist equipment to safely catch a glimpse.
"It might even be visible in the daytime sky, but observing with the sun only 5 degrees away is dangerous and should only be attempted with great care," Nick James, director of the British Astronomical Association's comet section, told spaceweather.com.
How best to see a comet
The comet will be best visible low on the horizon in the eastern sky just before sunrise, or the western sky just after sunset, with best viewing in the Southern Hemisphere.
For optimal chances of catching a glimpse, find a dark-sky location away from city lights and ensure you have a clear view of the horizon.
What are comets made of?
"Comets are best described as dirty snowballs. So, they are mainly composed of frozen gasses, enclosed in them are then some complex molecules but a substantial number of rocks, pebbles and sand grain sized other rocky debris," Daniel Brown, an associate professor in astronomy and science communication at Nottingham Trent University, previously told Newsweek.
Comets usually have a solid core or nuclear made of frozen water, carbon dioxide, methane, and ammonia, which are typically irregular in shape.
When a comet approaches the Sun, the heat causes the ice in the nucleus to sublimate (turn directly from solid to gas), creating a glowing halo of gas and dust around the nucleus called the coma.
"As the comet moves along its orbit (which is usually extremely oval or stretched), it comes for a period of time quite close to the Sun that can then start heating it up. As a result, the ice turns into gas causing a beautiful halo around the comet and a long tail. But as the ice disappears, it releases the rocky debris along its orbit," Brown said.
Comets follow highly elliptical orbits, taking them from the distant regions of the solar system to close encounters with the Sun. The closer a comet gets to the sun, the more likely it is to break up due to the extreme heat.
"Comets undergo tremendous stress as they approach perihelion," comet expert Gary Kronk, an amateur astronomer and writer, told Newsweek.
Whether C/2024 G3 disintegrates as it approaches the sun is yet to be seen, with some anticipating that it may not survive.
Where are comets found?
Comet C/2024 G3 was discovered by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) telescope system on April 5, 2024, and is thought to have come from the distant Oort Cloud surrounding our solar system. Its full orbit around our sun is expected to take 160,000 years -- if it survives its brush with the sun.