A Green Comet Is Coming Close to Earth for the 1st Time in 50,000 Years
C/2022 E3 (ZTF), as it’s called, was first spotted on March 2, 2022, at the Zwicky Transient Facility, and it is slated to pass close to the sun and Earth in the coming weeks.
If you see a glowing green light in the sky starting Thursday night, it isn’t an alien spaceship that has come to invade planet Earth. Rather, it’s a rare comet that will potentially be visible by the naked eye for the first time in 50,000 years.
C/2022 E3 (ZTF), as it’s called, was first spotted on March 2, 2022, at the Zwicky Transient Facility, and it is slated to pass close to the sun and Earth in the coming weeks.
The comet will reach its closet point to the sun on January 12. People who want to view it are advised to use binoculars or a telescope and look in areas with low light pollution. That said, if you’re busy Thursday night, you’ll have other chances; experts say the comet will be visible for the majority of January for Northern Hemisphere stargazers and in early February, when the comet is closest to the Earth, for Southern Hemisphere stargazers.
“Comets are notoriously unpredictable, but if this one continues its current trend in brightness, it'll be easy to spot with binoculars, and it's just possible it could become visible to the unaided eye under dark skies,” said NASA’s Preston Dyches.
Comets are small bodies composed of ice, dust, and gasses that orbit around the sun, and the unique green appearance of this comet is due to the presence of certain compounds, such as diatomic carbon and cyanogen. Because this particular comet has an especially large orbit around the sun, it likely won’t be back for another 50,000 years, so be sure not to miss it.