Rare brightening comet seen passing Earth from Hawaii

A telescope in Hawaii captured a rare comet as it passes near Earth. The footage was captured on 2 October by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan’s Subaru-Asahi Star Camera on the summit of Maunakea.

Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS was discovered in January 2023 after Tsuchinshan Observatory in China spotted it, which was later independently detected by Nasa’s Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS).

Scientists estimate the last time Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS visited our solar system was 80,000 years ago.