Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan–ATLAS

• CCNY Planetarium

Viewing the Comet in NYC

We haven’t seen it yet, but chances are looking good that we’ll be able to see a naked eye comet in the next few days and weeks. Here are a few simulated views showing the path of the comet over NYC. We’ve stylized the view for fun.

Comet C/2023 over NYC, vintage style
A stylized schematic showing the comets path over NYC in the coming days.

If you want to see the comet, here's the best recipe:

  1. Set your alarm for about 30 minutes after sunset each night. (That's going to be around 6:40 or so.) We find forgetting to go look is the most common reason for missing a astronomical event!
  2. Get to a place where you can see as much of the western sky as possible. This could be a roof of a tall building, or perhaps somewhere near the Hudson River.
  3. Look above the horizon in the direction where the sun just set. That's right about straight west this time of year.
  4. Look for a fuzzy thing. Maybe use binoculars, (after the sun has set!!!) to see the comet better.

Here is an animated version showing the path of the comet throughout the night sky.

Comet C/2023 over NYC, vintage style
GIF version of the same simulation.

The above simulations (yes, these are not real photos) were made with OpenSpace Astrovisualization Software.

Good luck.