DENVER – Another week, another celestial delight in Colorado’s night sky.
Just days after the northern lights painted the sky in a vibrant array of colors as far south as Ouray, a potentially once-in-a-lifetime comet has dazzled Coloradans this week.
It is the Oort Cloud comet, also known as Tsuchinshan-ATLAS after the two observatories that spotted the comet last year.
While NASA said the comet, passing about 44 million miles from Earth, is best positioned for viewing in the southern hemisphere, photographers in Denver7’s Discover Colorado | Through Your Photos group on Facebook have captured some breathtaking images of it above Colorado.
Peak visibility was believed to be Oct. 9-10, according to NASA, but remained visible in Colorado Tuesday night. Stargazers have had the most luck looking southwest, just above the horizon, at or just after nightfall.
The comet, which hasn’t been seen for 80,000 years and may never be again, is likely to be invisible to the naked eye by early November, NASA said.
Take a look at some of our favorite photos of Tsuchinshan-ATLAS below, and join the photography group on Facebook for more amazing snaps:
