Regions_follow-up
A rare astronomical phenomenon is repeated at the end of this month, 50,000 years after its occurrence.
Scientists and lovers of astronomical phenomena are awaiting the passage of the comet “C / 2022 E3 (ZTF)” this week near the sun, as it is the first time in 50,000 years, and it will be possible to see this newly discovered comet with the naked eye at the end of this January..
The discovery of this small rocky and icy body, with an estimated diameter of about one kilometer, dates back to March 2022, and it was monitored by the ZTF Sky Survey Program.” (Zwicky Transient Facility) Who operates the Samuel-Oshin Telescope at Palomar Observatory, California, USA.
The comet was observed when it passed in the orbit of Jupiter, and it is currently heading towards the sun and will reach its closest point to it on January 12, according to astronomers’ calculations..
Nicolas Biver, from the Paris-BSL Observatory, said that the celestial body will then be at a distance from the sun about 10 percent farther than the distance separating the planet Earth from it (about 150 million km)..
When a comet approaches the sun, the ice in its nucleus sublimes, that is, it turns from a solid state to a gaseous state, leaving a long trail of dust that reflects sunlight..
This dust, which looks like shiny hair, is what you will be able to see from Earth as the comet approaches.
The comet reaches its peak brightness “when it is closest to Earth,” said Thomas Prince, a professor of physics at the California Institute of Technology, who works for ZTF.“.
However, this phenomenon will be less exciting than the passage of comets “Hale-Bopp” in 1997 and “New Wise” in 2020, which are much larger..
The star can be seen easily with binoculars, and perhaps even with the naked eye during part of the night, if the moon’s radiation is not strong and the sky is free from light pollution..
Astrophysicist Nicholas Beaver hopes for a “good surprise” that makes the comet’s brightness “twice as strong as expected.”“.
Watched by James Webb
The best time slice for viewing the comet is likely to be on January 21 and 22 and the week after..
During this period, the comet will pass between the two constellations of stars, “The Little Bear” and “The Great Bear”, before heading to the southern hemisphere and then returning to the borders of the solar system, which is believed to be its primary location..
According to the current models, comets come from two reservoirs: the “Kuiper Belt” behind Neptune’s orbit, or the “Oort Cloud”, which is a wide theoretical region located a light-year away from the Sun, within the limits of the gravitational field..
“The inclination of the chart of its orbit leads to the belief that it is a long-period comet originally from the Oort cloud,” Beaver explained.“.
It will not be the first ice comet to pass near the sun, as it had previously had a similar experience 50,000 years ago..
Then the comet came back in the other direction, but it didn’t go as far as the Oort Cloud. As for this time, it is likely that it will be “expelled permanently from the solar system“.
This last pass will be an opportunity for scientists to understand more about the formation of comets, provided by observations made by the “James Webb” space telescope..
“We will monitor him from all angles,” Beaver said. It is true that it is not the comet of the century, but we are happy to be able to observe such comets every year or two, because we consider them to be traces of the formation of the solar system.“.
As for Thomas Prince, he commented that this “rare visitor will bring information about the inhabitants of the farthest part of the farthest planets in the Earth’s solar system.”“.