The comet has not passed near the Earth for 50,000 years… An appointment not to be missed.
50,000 years since we last saw it… Comet C/2022 E3 is back. We can even easily observe the celestial object with binoculars and perhaps even with the naked eye in January and February 2023, everywhere in the northern hemisphere. This phenomenon is all the rarer in that it can be seen at the very moment when it is at its brightest and closest to the Earth.
u2604ufe0fIn a few days we will be able to observe with the naked eye the #comet C/2022 E3 ZTF. Visible every 50,000 years, the comet will appear in the morning sky moving northwest. It will pass closest to us on February 1 at 42 million km. pic.twitter.com/RoSEay5Jnm
— Supernovæ Space News? (@SupernovaeSpace) January 4, 2023
Discovered on March 2, 2022 by the automatic detection program Zwicky Transcient Facility located at Mount Palomar (California, United States), it is a long-period comet whose last passage near the Sun dates back approximately 50,000 years, recalls the specialized scientific site Stelvision which offers an online sky map to successfully observe it. It is composed of a small rocky and icy body, whose diameter is estimated at about 1 km.
Here is comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF), which could become visible to the naked eye (but a priori weakly) by the end of the week and pass closest to Earth in early February. In the meantime, admire his hair and his two tails in this image by JF Hernandez https://t.co/pqbcyRIYdL pic.twitter.com/bUP3WqO4CA
— Eric Lagadec (@EricLagadec) January 9, 2023
Its trajectory brings it closer to the Sun as of today, but still 166 million kilometers from us. The comet will then approach the Earth to be closest to it on February 2, 2023, at 42 million kilometers. She will then reach the peak of her brilliance with the deployment of her hair.
The best time to observe it is from January 22 throughout the night if the sky is dark. And this lasts until the first quarter of the Moon on January 28, before the light of our satellite is more troublesome, specifies the specialists.