It was discovered in March of the recently ended year, but comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) can be seen by the end of this month by any amateur astronomer, including those who do not have a telescope, since it may also be visible to the naked eye. .
It was discovered by astronomers using the Zwicky Transient Facility’s Wide Field Survey Camera. Since then, the new long-period comet – it completes its orbit around the Sun in about 50,000 years, so it won’t come close to us for about that time – has brightened considerably and is now sweeping across the northern constellation. Corona Borealis in the skies before dawn, NASA reports.
This telescopic image from December 19 (the photo that opens this information) shows the comet’s bright greenish comaa short, broad dust tail and a long, weak ion tail that extends across a 2.5-degree field of view.
On its journey through the interior of the Solar System, comet 2022 E3 will be at perihelion, its closest point to the Sun, on January 12, and at perigee, its closest point to our planet, on February 1. Comet brightness is notoriously unpredictable, but by then C/2022 E3 (ZTF) could be visible to the naked eye in dark night skies, the space agency reports.
what is a comet
Comets are a kind of ‘space snowballs’ made up of frozen gases, dust and rocks that orbit the Sun. As they get closer to our star, these objects are attacked with increasing amounts of radiation, releasing gases and debris. This process forms a bright atmosphere around the comet (known as a coma) and two vast tails of gas and dust.
As with all comets, C/2022 E3 (ZTF) moves much faster when it is closer to the Sun and slows down as it moves further away. At the time of its closest approach to Earth in February, the comet will be traveling at a speed of around 206,000 kilometers per hour relative to our planet, NASA data shows.
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