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A bright comet will be visible in Colorado starting Saturday

A bright comet will be visible in Colorado starting Saturday

Colorado sky watchers who have marveled at several Northern Lights in recent days will have another reason to relax over the next two weeks with the appearance of a comet in the western sky after sunset.

Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS should come into view for sky watchers in Colorado starting around dusk Saturday evening. Astronomy experts think it should be visible for about two weeks, appearing slightly higher in the sky each night. They expect it to be as bright as the brightest stars.

“Compared to Haley's Comet, this one is said to be much brighter,” said Aislynn Mills of Mile High Astronomy, a Lakewood store that sells binoculars, telescopes and other astronomical supplies.

According to the astronomy site space.com, the comet's head is about 130,000 miles in diameter and its tail stretches about 18 million miles. It circled the sun this week in a highly elliptical orbit and is making its way back into space through the inner solar system.

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