Catch a glimpse of a rare comet in the western skies over the prairies

Saskatchewan residents have just a few more days to catch a rare glimpse of a comet visible to the naked eye, streaking across the western skies at dusk.

Saskatchewan residents have just a few more days to catch a rare glimpse of a comet visible to the naked eye, streaking across the western skies at dusk.

Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS came from what’s known as the Oort Cloud, well beyond Pluto. After making its closest approach about 71 million kilometres from Earth, it won't return for another 80,000 years — assuming it survives the trip.

Several comets are discovered every year, but many burn up near the sun or linger too far away to be visible without special equipment, according to Larry Denneau, a lead researcher with the Atlas telescope that helped discover the comet.

Lynn Blair, who lives in the hamlet of Furdale just outside Saskatoon, says she set out to go see the comet on Sunday night in part to reconnect with memories of her late father.

“My dad, back in the day, used to write down the day’s weather, temperature; everything,” she told CTV News on Monday.

“We’d take the boat out at night and go watch the stars.”

Blair says her husband is “very much a stargazer,” so the two of them took a drive into a farmer’s field near Asquith at sundown yesterday and waited to see Tsuchinshan-Atlas for themselves. As darkness settled over the prairie — there it was.