The best is yet to come for sky watchers who want to see the long-tailed comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS.
Astronomers say it should put on a show the next few days.
It has already put smiles on sky watchers' faces in Nebraska, becoming visible in the western sky very near the horizon in the fading glow of twilight.
According to the editors of Sky & Telescope website, the next few days will be peak viewing, weather permitting, of course.
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Having just swung around the sun on Sept. 27, it's now passing by Earth, coming within 44 million miles of us Oct. 12, they said.
Every evening the comet will appear higher and more obvious, offering better viewing, they said.
Best viewing will be from a dark place away from city lights. Binoculars or a small telescope may help to locate it.
Later this month, however, the comet will shrink and fade, eventually disappearing to the unaided eye, even under ideal dark-sky conditions, they said.
The comet's solid nucleus, the source of the whole show, is a dirty space iceberg, probably just a few miles wide, according to Sky & Telescope.
It fell in toward the sun from the cold and dark outer solar system, originating in a region referred to as the Oort Cloud. As the comet nears the sun's warmth, some of the ices in its nucleus -- water, frozen carbon dioxide, and other volatiles -- evaporate.
The ensuing haze of sunlit dust and fluorescing gas forms the comet's visible head and streaming tail, which can be many millions of miles long.