October's supermoon pairs with a once-in-a-lifetime comet for rare nighttime spectacle

The Tsuchinshan-Atlas comet is still in the neighborhood and will wow stargazers in the North Hemisphere after making an appearance in the Southern Hemisphere over the weekend.

The biggest full moon of 2024 will light up the night sky on Wednesday night. And in a rare celestial event, October's supermoon will make an appearance alongside a comet for a rare stargazing two-for-one.

Known as the Hunter's moon, because of the autumn hunting season, the October moon will be 222,055 miles away from Earth on Wednesday night, "which is considerably closer than the average Earth-to-Moon distance of 239,000 miles — making it a supermoon," according to the Adler Planetarium in Chicago.

While a supermoon isn't bigger, it appears that way due to its proximity to Earth. This usually happens only three or four times a year.

And in a twist of comic fate, the Tsuchinshan-Atlas comet is still in the neighborhood and will wow stargazers in the North Hemisphere after making an appearance in the Southern Hemisphere over the weekend.

What time is the Supermoon?

The moon will officially turn full at 7:26 a.m. ET on Thursday, Oct. 17. However, the moon will be a "supermoon," arrive at perigee, its closest point to Earth, at 8:48 p.m. ET on Wednesday evening.

It’s classified as a “supermoon” because it will be about 30% brighter than an average full moon due to its closer orbit to the Earth.

When can you see the Tsuchinshan-Atlas comet?

If you want to a once-in-lifetime comet, time is running out.

The comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas first appeared on Saturday, Oct. 12 and will be visible through the end of the month, according to NASA. However, as the days pass, the comet will appear dimmer and become harder to see with the naked eye. That's because the comet will become higher in the sky each night as it moves away from the sun and out of the solar system.

On Wednesday night, sky gazers will have another chance to see the comet when appears in the night sky about 45 minutes after sunset. Astronomers say for the best view, head outside just after sunset and look just above the horizon.

And while the supermoon's moonlight may wash out some of the comet’s tail, it’s still worth a look after sunset, NASA's Bill Cooke told The Associated Press.

“Most astronomers hate the full moon because its bright light messes up observing other objects. So it’s a bit hard for us to wax poetic about it even if it’s the biggest supermoon of 2024,” he said.

NASA said the comet last passed by Earth 80,000 years ago and may never return as the latest data shows its path may take it out of the solar system altogether.

Rare comet in skies over North Texas

Where did comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas come from?

Comets are frozen leftovers from the solar system’s formation billions of years ago. As they swing toward the sun, they heat up and release their characteristic streaming tails.

The comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas, also designated C/2023 A3, was discovered last year and is named for the observatories in China and South Africa that spied it.

It came from what’s known as the Oort Cloud well beyond Pluto. Several comets are discovered every year, but many burn up near the sun or linger too far away to be visible without special equipment, according to Larry Denneau, a lead researcher with the Atlas telescope that helped discover the comet, the AP reported.