Irish weather man captures picture of comet last seen over Earth 80,000 years ago

An Irish weather man has captured a photograph of a comet last seen over Earth 80,000 years ago.

The Comet A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) was spotted over the skies of Ireland on Monday night. The above image was captured by Carlow weather man Alan O'Reilly.

"Ohh managed to capture the A3 Comet just now in the sky with the phone," Alan posted to his many followers on X.

This giant ball of ice, dust and rocks has been hurtling towards us at over 60km/h for the past few weeks and made its closest approach to Earth this week.

Ohh managed to capture the A3 Comet just now in the sky with the phone! pic.twitter.com/jdz6TyTohH

— Carlow Weather (@CarlowWeather) October 14, 2024

It has been called “the comet of the century” because of how bright and visible it could be.

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Astronomers said it would last have been visible from our planet around 80,000 years ago, and was only discovered again in January 2023.

Stargazers in the southern hemisphere have already glimpsed Comet A3 but it can now also be seen in the northern hemisphere, the society said.