The comet will make its closest approach to Earth this Saturday before starting on its long orbital journey once more (if it doesn’t break up at one point, that is). It will be bright enough to see in the western sky with the naked eye, but using binoculars couldn’t hurt either, says EarthSky.com.

It is now approaching its closest point to Earth. The star successfully passed close to the Sun without disintegrating at the end of September, a phenomenon known as perihelion. From October 12, its bright, long tail, whose length is equivalent to the diameter of 42 moons, should be visible in the northern hemisphere.

The ion tail of C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) could appear as a blue streak across the northern hemisphere sky during October, in a rare event thought to happen only every few decades