by On Wednesday (February 1), a comet that has not visited Earth since the last ice age and the time of the Neanderthals will make its closest approach to our planet, or perigee.
Excitingly, comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF), which last passed through the inner solar system around 50,000 years ago, will be at its peak during this time and may even be visible to the naked eye. in good conditions. The comet is expected to be observable for days as it approaches our planet and then retreats on its way to the outer solar system.
During the comet’s perigee, it will arrive at a distance of about 26 million miles (42 million kilometers) from our planet, which is about 28% of the distance between Earth and the sun. If you’ve been waiting to take a look at C/2022 E3 (ZTF) before it’s gone, now is your best bet.
Related: How to see the green comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) visible in the night sky now approaching Earth
According to In the sky, (opens in a new tab) of New York City C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is circumpolar, which means that it is permanently above the horizon, and should therefore be visible for most of the night. It will be visible in the constellation Camelopardalis at perigee, a large but faint area of sky devoid of bright stars and located near the north celestial pole.
The comet will become visible around 6:49 p.m. EST (23:49 GMT) on Wednesday, February 1, when it will be 49 degrees above the northern horizon. C/2022 E3 (ZTF) will peak in the sky, 58 degrees above the northern horizon, around 9:46 p.m. EST (02:46 GMT). After that, it will disappear in the light of dawn around 5:57 a.m. EST (10:57 GMT) on February 2 when it will be about 30 degrees above the northern horizon.
The comet will remain visible until early February and will finally become visible to observers on the southern horizon this month. C/2022 E3 (ZTF) may be visible to the naked eye but should be easier to spot with binoculars or a telescope. The easiest times to spot it may be on Sunday (February 5) when the comet is next to the bright star Capella in the constellation Auriga, or between February 9 and February 13 when it shines near Mars. in the constellation Taurus.
If you’re hoping to observe C/2022 E3 (ZTF), our guides to the best telescopes and the best binoculars are a great place to start. If you’re looking to take photos of the night sky, check out our guide on how to photograph the moon, as well as our best cameras for astrophotography and our best lenses for astrophotography.
C/2022 E3 (ZTF) made its close approach to the sun, its perihelion, on January 12 when it passed within 100 million miles (160 million kilometers) of our star before heading towards Earth.
The orbital period of C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is 50,000 years according to NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA JPL) (opens in a new tab)i.e. the last time it came this close to earth or the sun, our planet was in the middle of the last glacial period or “ice age” and neanderthals still shared the planet with our earliest ancestors , the first homo sapiens.
C/2022 E3 (ZTF) was first identified in March 2022 by the Wide Field Surveillance Camera at Zwicky Transitional Facility inside Jupiter’s orbit. At first, astronomers suspected it was an asteroid, but C/2022 E3 (ZTF) quickly began to brighten as it approached the sun.
This is a behavior displayed by comets as they approach the sun and are heated by radiation from our star, with the material on their surface changing from solid ice to gas in a process called sublimation. This indicated the true nature of C/2022 E3 (ZTF) and hinted at its potential visibility above Earth.
Editor’s note: If you take Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) and would like to share it with Space.com readers, send your photo(s), comments, and name and location to spacephotos@space.com.
