Valencia resident James de Bree was sitting at home watching TV when he saw it pop up on his screen — a rare, once-in-a-lifetime comet.   He knew he needed to see it, so he and his wife went up to a nearby bluff overlooking College of the Canyons, where they bumped into a retired employee from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory who told them a little about the comet.  “I used to love astronomy, and I knew everything about all the stars, but I’ve long since forgotten it,” de Bree said. “I’m 71 years old, almost 72 and my eyesight isn’t what it used to be, and I couldn’t see [the comet] with the naked eye. But then somebody gave me their binoculars and I was sort of looking at it and then I saw it. It was pretty cool.”  Named after the Tsuchinshan Observatory in China and the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System telescope in South Africa, the C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS comet is visible to the naked eye this week, according to NASA.  As it gets closer to the sun, though, the comet will become increasingly less visible.   It was previously reported that it would take 80,000 years before people are able to see the comet again, but an article on NASA’s website said that, based on newer data, the comet’s path might take it out of the solar system completely.  It’s an ancient comet that has become increasingly brighter in the past few weeks. Santa Clarita Valley residents, like de Bree, were able to see the comet about 45 to 50 minutes after sunset on Monday.  Glenn Basore, president of the Local Group Astronomy Club in the SCV, said in an email that comets are made up of debris and ice. The streak or tail that can be seen is a result of the comet heating up from the sun and breaking apart.  To view the comet, de Bree said he was told to look to the west, between Venus and the star Alturas.          The post Once in a lifetime comet visible from Earth  appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.