Green comet sighting: Here’s when to see this celestial sight unlikely to return in millions of years

Astronomers discovered the new comet just in time as it approached Earth in February. However, after this encounter, comet C/2022 E3 will not approach Earth for a very long time.

Comet C/2022 E3 ZTF is rapidly approaching the closest point to Earth in its orbit, which is expected in late January and early February. This flyby will be a rare occurrence where the comet can be seen with the naked eye without the aid of a telescope or binoculars.

This celestial observation is a bit like space rendezvous. Astronomers have just learned of its existence, and it will be gone before we know it and may never return.

The comet last approached Earth about 50,000 years ago.

Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF)

Astronomers at the National Science Foundation’s Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) California first discovered this moving object in the solar system on March 2, 2022.

“Needle in a haystack”: how comets are discovered

Zwicky Detention Center According to Thomas Prince, astronomer and director of the Space Research Institute. V. M. Keka at the California Institute of Technology, the search for space objects such as asteroids and comets is carried out by two different methods.

Telescopes at Caltech’s Palomar Observatory scan a 50-square-degree patch of sky every night, looking at all the sky that can be seen. Southern California every two nights.

A machine learning algorithm developed by Caltech’s Frank Muskie then looks for “fuzzy” objects that could be moving comets, or compares multiple images of the same object to trace its line of motion.

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Prince said it was essentially “finding a needle in a haystack”.

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“There are approximately one and a half billion stars in the night sky accessible to us,” Prince said. “You know, the 300,000th star is not that interesting. But then we need to use computer technology to find interesting objects.”

The moving object tracking software was how Caltech astronomer Bryce Bolin of Caltech discovered comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) in March.

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In the five ZTF images above, taken about 3.5 minutes apart, you can see the comet in motion.

After reporting a possible comet Minor planet center a few weeks later, it was confirmed by multiple observations at different observatories and received the code name comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF).

Perhaps the comet will get a brighter name. However, this process goes through the International Astronomical Union and takes some time.

“We would like this project to be called Comet ZTF,” Prince said, hoping it would catch on.

What can we expect from comet C/2022 E3?

Comets orbit the sun and originate from the ice-covered organic remnants of our solar system beyond Pluto. These fossils of our solar system are sometimes referred to as “dirty snowballs,” according to NASA.

On January 12, Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) reached perihelion, its closest approach to the Sun. This was the right time to start looking for a comet at night.

Comet’s closest approach to Earth takes place February 1st, but it is already visible with a telescope and will be visible until mid-February. The nearest harmless comet will be about 26 million miles from Earth.

Prince offered a few suggestions if you want to start looking for an approaching comet.

“The sky should be dark and moonless,” Prince said.

Now that the January full moon has come and gone, Prince said they should try to get to an area with as little light pollution as possible, away from city lights.

Even though it is considered a bright comet that can be seen with the naked eye, using binoculars will definitely help. To find a comet, look for a bright, blurry object.

“It will probably be different from other stars because it will look a bit fuzzy compared to other stars,” Prince said.

With telescopes, astronomers already noticing a bright green comet and its faint tail.

Prince suggested another way to detect the comet. On February 10, the comet will be about 1.5 degrees from Mars.

Mars is very bright and you can just look around Mars to within one degree and you might be able to see it,” Prince said.

How rarely is a comet visible to Earth with the naked eye?

Comets constantly fly past the Earth. What makes the recent discovery of Comet ZTF unique is that it is bright and close enough to be seen without a telescope.

When you hear a comet “with the naked eye,” others come to mind, including Hale-Bopp’s flyby comet in 1997 and Halley’s Comet, which astronomers have recorded for 2000 years. Halley’s Comet will once again fly past the Earth in 2061 during its 76-year orbit around the Sun.

Comet NEOWISE, discovered by NASA Wide-angle infrared view of near-Earth objects (NEOWISE), observed worldwide and by astronauts on the International Space Station in 2020, according to NASA.

When will ZTF Comet C/2022 E3 return?

Comet ZTF was originally thought to fly by Earth again in 50,000 years. Astronomers estimate that the next flyby could be several million years away.

University of Maryland astronomer and ZTF study contributor Ye Quanzhi said scientists will get a better idea of ​​the comet’s orbital period after it travels overseas to see how its passage through the inner solar system disrupts the comet’s orbit.

“It’s safe to say the comet won’t be returning anytime soon,” Quanzhi told FOX Weather via email.

If you miss it, there will be more opportunities in your life. According to NASA, more than 3,700 comets are known.

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Finding and tracking space objects like comets is important for several reasons, Prince said.

First, it’s just a fascination with the night sky and the fact that it’s interesting for a lot of people to see an object that travels through our solar system and moves close enough to Earth for us to see it,” he said.

The second is to know where these objects are in order to predict a potential collision with the Earth for planetary protection.

“We’re just gathering as much information as we can about these fairly large rocks that are flying around the solar system,” Prince said.

NASA completed its first planetary defense test mission in September 2022 by crashing a spacecraft into a small asteroid orbiting another asteroid. effectively changing its orbit by about 32 minutes.

Learn more about this story at FOXWeather.com.

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