Bright green comet last seen during Ice Age may be visible again in rare cosmic spectacle in February
WASHINGTON DC: Discovered in March 2022 in Jupiter's orbit, stargazers will have a "once in a lifetime chance" to see a new comet. The comet which is named C/2022 E3 (ZTF) will light up the night skies during January end and early February. The comet will make its closest approach to the Sun on January 12 and the Earth on February 2. Once back in outer space, it isn't expected to visit Earth again for at least another 50,000 years. The comet might have been last visible during the Ice Age.
NASA says comets are "notoriously unpredictable." If C/2022 E3 (ZTF) continues its current trend in brightness, it'll be easy to spot with binoculars. Iis also possible that the comet will become visible to the naked eye under dark skies. The space agency, however, says the experience might "not be as spectacular" as Comet NEOWISE was in 2020 but it could be a 'fantastic' opportunity to build a "personal connection" with the icy guest.
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Northern Hemisphere observers will see the comet in the early sky as it travels quickly toward the northwest during January. It will be visible in the Southern Hemisphere beginning in early February, the astronomers at the agency said. "This comet isn't expected to be quite the spectacle that Comet NEOWISE was back in 2020,' Preston Dyches from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory", said in a video shared by the US space agency, the Daily Mail reported.
"This comet isn't expected to be quite the spectacle that Comet NEOWISE was back in 2020. But it's still an awesome opportunity to make a personal connection with an icy visitor from the distant outer solar system," Dyches added. Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) was discovered by astronomers using the wide-field survey camera at the Zwicky Transient Facility as per NASA's announcement back on December, 24.
In March 2020, NASA's Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) satellite telescope was discovered and named Comet Neowise. It was still 64 million kilometers from Earth on its closest approach on July 23, 2020, as it swept away back into space releasing gas and dust.
NASA explains that comets are cosmic snowballs of frozen gases, rock, and dust that orbit the sun. When frozen, they are the size of a small town. When a comet's orbit brings it close to the sun, it heats up and spews dust and gases into a giant glowing head larger than most planets. The dust and gases form a tail that stretches away from the sun for millions of miles. Notably, the current number of known comets is somewhere around 3,743.