Comet C/2024 G3 (Atlas) – January 2025

This week a comet has been visible after the sun has set, and once the skies are dark it is easily seen by naked-eye. Locals and visitors have enjoyed the Norfolk Island magical dark skies and watch the comet named Comet C/2024 G3 (Atlas), towards the west, above the area of the sunset and not far from Venus.

This week is also the alignments of the planets, Venus, Mars and Jupiter are all visible in the sky once the sun as set.

On 21 January, Tuesday evening, our family enjoyed the view of the comet from Mt Pitt. There were many people up the top waiting to see this stunning comet, which is reported to be the best comet of 2025. Along with many others with their cameras or mobile phones, it was fun capturing images of the comet, and as our eyes adjusted to the darkness the comet tail appeared to get longer and longer.

Checking out my photographs when we got home, I did find when I looked at my images on the computer, the mobile photos looked very pixeled and more “arty” or like a painting. This may also have been the haze clouds on the horizon after the sunset.

Local Norfolk Island photographer, Zac Sanders, has posted his lovely image on his Facebook page, “Stuck on a Rock” and Jolene Oliver has also posted wonderful images of the comet on her Facebook page for everyone to enjoy. I have posted a couple of my photographs on my Facebook page and will share some on this week’s Norfolk Online News publication.

I have seen many wonderful photographs on Facebook and social media. Many from Australia and New Zealand and stunning images from Chile. This is a southern hemisphere comet, so the reason we have such an amazing view. I have read that this comet hasn’t been visible for around 180,000 years and isn’t likely to be seen again for approx another 600,000 years.

If you are hunting for the comet, you can use binoculars or a zoom lens, but once it is dark it is very easy to see, as long as there is no clouds obscuring the view. To find Comet C/2024 G3 (Atlas), look towards the west, above the area of the sunset and not far from the left of Venus. This is a once in a life time comet and we are fortunate not to have light pollution on Norfolk Island, but it is helpful to be away from the lights in town or busy roadways with night-time traffic.

I have read a few reports regarding Comet C/2024 G3 Atlas. Here are extracts from a New Zealand publication.

Last chance to see rare Atlas comet over Canterbury | Star News

RASNZ comet section director John Drummond said the comet was going to be "headless wonder" now, getting dimmer as the effects from passing near the Sun about a week ago set in.

"When you look at it, you'll just see the tail of the comet in the sky, but you won't see a definite ... fairly bright ball with the head, with the dust and gas coming away.

"The head is basically shattered because what happens is a comet is really just a loose pile of rubble and frozen gas and dust and so it's not a solid rock, it's more of a conglomeration of material, and it's come close to the sun ... and because of that, the sun's influence with the heat and the pressure from the sun, the gravity basically shattered it."

While it had been expected it would be seen again after 600,000 years, that hope had been dashed, he said.

"What will happen is it will just carry on disintegrating and then we will be able to see the tail in the sky ... for the next few nights at least, probably with the naked eye, better with binoculars, and you'll see it as a streak in the sky and then over the next week, it will get fainter and fainter."

"You do need a very low Western horizon, and you do need to get away from that terrible thing called light pollution.

"The good thing is it's now at a place in its orbit where each night it gets higher and higher in the sky, further away from the sun. So because it gets higher in the sky, there's less atmosphere to look through and so it should be a little bit easier to see over the next few nights until it fades too much."

Antony Gomez is a Wellington-based climate change scientist but has had an interest in astronomy since he was a child and with his expanding knowledge became involved with the community groups in the early 2000s. He is now the national co-ordinator of NZ IAU Astronomy Outreach.

....“Witnessing the long tail on the rare comet had been "quite spectacular". "You don't know what's gonna happen to it, whether it's gonna survive and come out and be a really nice comet, or whether it's just gonna be a fizzle, or who knows? That [unknown] of what it could be like kind of draws you out thinking 'I must go out and have a look at this'."

I hope you have an opportunity to get out and enjoy our Norfolk Island Magical Dark Skies and go comet hunting. The nights are warm, and the stars have looked stunning this week, along with pretty sunsets. I enjoyed sharing the love of the night sky with family and friends and there is always so much to see and learn when watching the stars and satellites and lots of fun to spot shooting stars.

Here are a few images I have taken of Comet C/2024 G3 Atlas, plus Jolene Oliver stunning images.

Betty Matthews

24 January 2025