A once-in-a-lifetime comet is approaching the sun — and it will be visible for the first time in 160,000 years. The comet will also be at its closest point to the Earth and might become the brightest comet of the year during a year when no other comets are set to be visible to the naked eye.

A bright comet could be visible in skies across the globe over the coming days for the only time in 160,000 years. Nasa said the future brightness of a comet is "notoriously hard" to predict, but that Comet C/2024 G3 (Atlas) could remain bright enough to be seen by the naked eye.

In the rare celestial event, occurring once every 160,000 years, the Comet G3 ATLAS (C/2024) is likely to reach its peak brightness within 8.7 million miles of the Sun at its perihelion. The comet was initially faint,