A newly-discovered is set to shine brighter than Venus next week as it lights up the sky for the first time in 160,000 years.

Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) is travelling towards the Sun and will come within 8.3 million miles of it on January 13 - 10 times closer than Earth gets. This is , possibly even visible in the daylight.

On Monday, the comet will be viewable from the Southern Hemisphere as it appears in the Sagittarius constellation. It way appear very low in the sky in the Northern Hemisphere, but it likely won't be visible at all.

As it'll get so close to the Sun, it'll be hard to view safely without specialist equipment. But those with the right equipment should look low on the horizon in the eastern , or the western sky just after sunset.

Dr Shyam Balaji, researcher in astroparticle physics and cosmology at King's College London, said: "As with all comets, its visibility and brightness can be unpredictable.

"Observers may have opportunities to spot it in the days around perihelion, depending on local conditions and the comet's behaviour.

"Current orbital calculations indicate it will pass about 8.3 million miles (0.09 AU) from the Sun. This relatively close approach classifies it as a sun-skirting comet, though not close enough to be a true 'sungrazer'."

the comet are rural areas where the sky is dark and clear, unlike city skies that suffer from light pollution and don't get truly black.

The Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) telescope system discovered Comet C/2024 G3 last year and believe it to have come from the Oort Cloud surrounding our solar system about two light years away.

Monday brings a to view the comet, as scientists believe its full orbit around the Sun will take a staggering 160,000 years.

Coments are mainly made of frozen gasses that surround complex molecules, rocks, pebbles and other debris. Their solid core is made of water, carbon dioxide, methane, and ammonia.

When they move towards the Sun, its heat turns the ice directly from a solid to a gas, which created a halo of gas and dust that glows around the core, known as the coma. As the ice disappears, the comet will release the rock debris.

Getting close to the of breaking up due to the extreme heat, meaning C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) may not survive its run in with our star.