Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) will cross Earth’s sky again after 50,000 years since last visit and will be visible to the naked eye in late January.
The small rock and ice body is only 1 kilometer in diameter. The comet was discovered in March 2022 by the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF), which operates the Samuel-Oschin Telescope at Palomar Observatory in California.
50,000 years ago, “C/2022 E3 (ZTF)” visited the inner solar system and passed close to Earth. It was detected again in the path of Jupiter’s orbit and will pass very close to the sun this week.
Astronomers, who calculated its trajectory after months of observation, indicated that it would reach perihelion—the point closest to the sun—on January 12th.
When a comet approaches the Sun, the ice in its core changes to a gaseous state and releases a long tail that reflects the star’s light.
This bright phenomenon is what we will see from Earth, initially in the Northern Hemisphere, as “C/2022 E3 (ZTF)” approaches.
The comet will shine in all its splendor “when it’s closest to Earth,” explains Caltech physics professor Thomas Prince, who works on the ZTF.
However, it will be less exciting than Comet Hale-Bopp (1997) or Comet Neues (2020), which were much larger.
The space object can be seen at night with good glasses or even with the naked eye, as long as the sky is clear, there is no light pollution, and the brightness of the moon is not disturbed.
“Maybe we’re lucky and its brightness is twice as bright as expected,” says Nicolas Biver, an astrophysicist at the Paris-PSL Observatory.
The best observation period will be the weekend of January 21-22 and the following week.
During this period, it will pass between the constellations Ursa Minor and Ursa Major. Later, it can be seen in the southern hemisphere to then leave for the borders of the solar system, where it was most likely born.
According to current models, comets come from either the Kuiper Belt, which lies beyond the orbit of Neptune, or from the Oort Cloud, a vast region about light-years from the Sun, at the boundary of its gravitational field.
This comet “originally comes from the Oort Cloud,” according to Beaver when considering its orbit.
This time, it will likely “get out of the solar system for good,” Beaver says.
Preparations for viewing it will be completed and scientists hope to learn more about the formation of comets, thanks in particular to the powerful James Webb Space Telescope.
“We will observe from all sides. It is not the comet of the century, but we are happy to be able to observe such comets every year or two, as we consider them traces of the formation of the solar system,” explains the astrophysicist.
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