Comet A3 May Not Be Visible in Montana, Despite What Social Media Says

We're continuing our year of celestial events. As we've said before, 2024 has been an incredible year for looking up. There were Northern Lights, meteor showers, and we just got an update on the ‘Rare Nova Explosion.’

An Update on the 'Rare Nova Explosion'

In June, we shared a story about a rare explosion that we were hoping to see by September, and now the Indy Star has an update from NASA. They are still hoping to see the explosion sometime this month or by the end of this year, but so far the explosion hasn't happened yet.

If we are still waiting to see the Nova explosion after September there is an event we could look for instead, though there’s some disagreement about whether this is a celestial event we will all witness or not. 

READ MORE: 'Trail to the Stars' Offers a Map to Stargazing in Montana

Multiple social media accounts are claiming that there will be a comet that can be seen in October and it will be one of the brightest anyone has seen in a long time. I saw one of these social media posts but then I did a little digging and it's not so straightforward.  

Comet A3,  C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS)

There's some disagreement in the scientific community about whether we'll see this comet and how bright it will be. The BBC Sky at Night Magazine has a pretty good breakdown, and they say it’s a situation that could turn out in a couple of ways. Basically, we'll either see it, we won't see it, or we'll kind of see it. 

You're probably better off waiting for the ‘rare nova explosion.’ According to the Indystar NASA estimates a 70% chance the explosion will happen by September and a 95% it will happen by the end of the year.  

Happy stargazing.