Green Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is passing Earth again for the first time in 50,000 years

A recently discovered comet will soon appear in the night sky for the first time in 50,000 years.

The comet was spotted by astronomers using the wide-field survey camera at the Zwicky Transient Facility at the Palomar Observatory in San Diego County, California on March 2, 2022, and is expected to make its closest approach to the Sun on January 12 NASA.

Called C/2022 E3 (ZTF)The comet has an orbit around the sun that cuts through the outer reaches of the solar system, which is why it has taken such a long journey – and a long time – to swing back past Earth The Planetary Society.

According to EarthSky, northern hemisphere skygazers using telescopes and binoculars should look low at the northeastern horizon just before midnight to spot it on January 12.

The icy celestial object, which has been steadily brightening as it nears the Sun, will then make its closest transit between February 1 and 2 at a distance of about 42 million kilometers EarthSky – As the comet approaches Earth, observers can see it near bright star Polaris, also known as the North Star, and it should be visible earlier in the evening.

The comet should be visible through binoculars in morning skies for most of January in the northern hemisphere and early February in the southern hemisphere, according to NASA.

Depending on how bright it gets in the coming weeks, C/2022 E3 (ZTF) could even become visible to the naked eye under dark skies towards the end of January.

The comet can be distinguished from stars by its streaky tails of dust and energetic particles, and the glowing green coma that surrounds it. The coma is a shell that forms around a comet as it passes close to the Sun, causing its ice to sublimate, or turn directly into gas. This causes the comet to look blurry when viewed through telescopes.

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