If you are a fan of skygazing, be sure to keep your eyes on the sky tonight.

A once-in-a-thousand-year comet is about to become visible for the first time in 160,000 years, and you don’t want to miss it.

The comet, named C/2024 G3 (ATLAS), was discovered by the ATLAS survey system and is slowly approaching the inner solar system.

Current calculations show that it will make its closest approach to the sun today at a distance of about 1.3 million km.

While that may sound like a long way off, it’s relatively close, with astronomers christening the comet a “sunset”.

Dr Shyam Balajia researcher in astroparticle physics and cosmology at King’s College London, said: “The comet is expected to approach the Sun (known as perihelion) around January 13, 2025.

However, as with all comets, its visibility and brightness can be unpredictable.

Observers may have opportunities to spot it on perihelion days, depending on local conditions and the behavior of the comet».

Comets are frozen remnants from the formation of the solar system consisting of dust, rocks and ice.

They range in width from a few km to tens of km, but as they orbit closer to the Sun they heat up and eject gas and dust into a glowing head that can be larger than a planet.

This material forms a “tail” that stretches for millions of km and makes them a spectacular sight in the night sky.

NASA estimates that there are billions of comets orbiting the Sun in the Kuiper Belt – a region of the solar system that hosts Pluto – and the outermost Oort Cloud.

During its passage, the brightness of comet C/2024 G3 will be affected by its proximity to the sun, according to Dr. Balaji.

“[Αυτό] causes the ice and frozen gases to sublimate, creating a plume and possibly a tail“, he explained.

“While some predictions suggest it could become quite bright, predictions of the comet’s brightness are notoriously uncertain.

Many comets end up being fainter than originally expected».

When will we be able to see him?

The comet will be most easily visible to people in the southern hemisphere, who will be able to look toward the eastern horizon before sunrise or the western horizon after sunset.

However, if you are in the Northern Hemisphere (including the UK), viewing conditions may be slightly more difficult due to the comet’s position relative to the sun.

The Central Astronomical Telegraph Office predicts that the comet will make its closest approach to the sun at 10.17am. GMT today, before passing Earth a few hours later.

However, according to New Scientist, the comet will be visible until January 14.

In fact, the best viewing time for places like the US and Europe will come about 30 minutes after sunset tomorrow.

If you miss the chance to see him, there is bad news.

Calculations show that it is a “long-period” comet, meaning it will have to wait thousands of years for it to return to the solar system.