'Comet of the century' last seen by Neanderthals spotted 'plain as day' over Scotland's north east

Comet A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) was anticipated to make a close approach to the northern hemisphere in October, space experts have said, after people in the southern hemisphere had a glimpse of it.

Hailed as “the comet of the century”, it only visits the inner solar system roughly every 80,000 years.

That means it would have last been visible from Earth when the Neanderthals were walking the planet. Several people in Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, spotted a flying orb believed to be the same comet on Monday. Resident David Nicol told The Scotsman: “I was out walking my dogs just before dark and saw it on the horizon.

“I steadied my phone on a fence post and took the shot. It was strange thinking that the last people who looked at this were the Neanderthal people. A bit humbling that’s for sure.”

Another resident, Kevin Adam, said he was a bit more prepared having seen news of the comet potentially appearing at this time of year, about 30 minutes after sunset.

“After finishing my evening meal with the family, I popped outside looked to the west and there it was - as plain as day,” he said.

“Quite an incredible sight.

“I’ve seen comets before, but they’ve always been very difficult to see with a naked eye. This one however, is particularly easy to spot.

“So I set up my camera on the tripod and took some photos simple as that.”

The Nasa Earth Observatory had predicted comet A3 could come within about 70 million km (44 million miles) of Earth on Saturday.

The Royal Astronomical Society said the orb would be visible in the northern hemisphere from Saturday night until 30 October.

It was photographed in Spain, Italy, Uruguay, and Indonesia from late September to early October, when it was visible in the southern hemisphere.

The comet was discovered independently in January 2023 by two observatories - China's Tsuchinshan (Purple Mountain) Observatory and South Africa's ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) - and was named after them.

Where did it come from?

The comet comes from a place called the Oort Cloud, according to Dr Robert Massey of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), which he said is "an incredibly large" distance from Earth, much further away than the planets and asteroids we are used to seeing.

Scientists think the Oort Cloud is a giant spherical shell surrounding our solar system, and resembles a big, thick-walled bubble made of icy pieces of space debris the sizes of mountains and sometimes larger.

According to Nasa, the Oort Cloud might contain billions, or even trillions, of objects.

It's thought that most long-period comets, like the A3 comet, come from there.