The press are calling C/2023 A3, ‘Comet of the century’ A slight exaggeration perhaps, but it is certainly the best we have seen since C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) back in 2020.

This is the view you would get if you looked towards the West tonight ( 20, October at 19:49 BST)

C/2023 A3 is now at a visual mag of 3.5, but getting fainter by a mag of 1 every few days now. We are not quite at peak observation yet, that comes on the 26th, when, while it will be fainter, it will be higher in the sky when the airmass and darkness conditions are more favourable.

Below is an ephemeris table showing the best observing window for the next 4 weeks.

This Comet can be seen with the naked eye, but is best viewed with a pair of binoculars with a FOV of 5 degrees or wider.

Graphics Credit: Skytools 4.1