If you're a fan of rare sky sights, you might want to keep an eye on the skies over Missouri this week as a comet potentially bright enough to even be visible during the daytime may be a possibility.

Predicting the visibility of comets is nearly as difficult as the Northern Lights. Lots of things need to go right for it to happen. I saw People Magazine mention the approach of Comet G3 ATLAS (C/2024). Its orbit only approaches Earth once in every 160,000 years which definitely qualifies it as rare.

This once-in-a-lifetime comet is expected to be so bright that it could be brighter than Venus and even be visible over Missouri during the daytime with an an expected magnitude of -4.5. Some scientists feared this comet was breaking apart as it nears the Sun, but now they believe that's not happening as it continues to get brighter.

How and when can you see this comet over Missouri?

This is where it gets a little bit tricky. Monday, January 13 will be Comet G3 Atlas closest approach to the Sun and to the Earth. That means to see it during the daytime, you'll need to look somewhat near the Sun which you should obviously never do without sufficient eye protection. Don't do that. For the next day or two, you might be able to catch a glimpse of it about a half hour before sunrise.

The best and safest chance is to see Comet Atlas during the evening hours of January 15 through the 18th when it can be safely viewed extremely low in the southwestern sky.

Missouri is expected to be one of the better places to see this comet since the current weather forecast shows mostly clear skies during the middle of this week. That's assuming the comet doesn't break apart and/or plunge into the Sun. There's only one thing that's certain and that's the fact that you won't live long enough for this comet to get close to Earth again.

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Gallery Credit: Atlas Survival Shelters via YouTube

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