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It’s rare when we have a chance to interact with the ancient world. Most of that comes through archaeological digs. However for the next few weeks, residents of Charlotte County and the rest of Southside Virginia will have a chance to view something much older than this country, as the ATLAS comet passes by.

Named after the ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) telescope in South Africa, which helped discover it, the comet only comes around this way once every 80,000 years, according to NASA officials.

“Though the comet is very old, it was just discovered in 2023, when it approached the inner solar system on its highly elliptical orbit for the first time in documented human history,” NASA officials said in a statement sent out to media. “The comet hails from the Oort Cloud, which scientists think is a giant spherical shell surrounding our solar system. It is like a big, thick-walled bubble made of icy pieces of space debris the sizes of mountains and sometimes larger. The Oort Cloud lies far beyond Pluto and the most distant edges of the Kuiper Belt and may contain billions, or even trillions, of objects.”

When is the best time to see the comet? Right around or after sunset, NASA officials say. The comet is more visible low in the western sky following sunset. On the other hand, if you catch it right before sunset, you can see more of the comet’s tail, which is illuminated by the fading sunlight. Members of The Gazette staff went out just before dark on Monday, Oct. 14 to catch a few photos of the traveler as it passed by.

HOW CAN I SEE IT?

First off, NASA says from now until Oct. 24 is the best time to see the comet. However, with each passing day, it gets further and further away, so you may need to use binoculars or a small telescope to get the best view. To spot it, look on the southwestern sky, roughly 20 to 30 degrees above the horizon, either just before or just after sunset. On Monday, it was about a fist above the horizon. On Tuesday, that climbed to a fist and a half. If you can’t walk outside to see it then, there’s a second chance in the early morning hours. You can look at the southeastern sky, about 30 to 40 degrees above the horizon, roughly an hour before sunrise.

As for the best way to see it? For that, we take some advice from both the Grateful Boomers and some of our local state park officials. First, find a dark location with minimal light pollution. One suggestion would be James River State Park, an International Dark Sky Park along the banks of the James River in northern Buckingham County. You can use binoculars or even just a basic telescope in order to see it better. One thing that everyone from state park officials to NASA workers warn though is to make sure you don’t stare directly at the sun while looking for the comet.