Will you pick up a little astronomy again in early 2023? On the night of February 1-2, a comet currently transiting our solar system will be closest to Earth, allowing those curious to see it with the naked eye or with simple binoculars.
This comet, named C/2022 E3 (ZTF), will be closest to our planet around February 1st. It was identified in March 2022 and is currently sailing in our solar system, a rarity for this type of celestial object. On the night of February 1-2, the comet will be about 42 million kilometers from Earth, an amazing distance to be sure of, but reasonable for observing it in the sky with the naked eye. Located between the constellations of Ursa Minor and Ursa Major, it will be relatively easy to locate, provided of course that it continues to sparkle as it does now.
How was C/2022 E3 (ZTF) discovered?
The opportunity is all the more wonderful as it is very rare to observe a comet in its lifetime, if only because most of them come from very distant places. In fact, these “hairy stars” are residues of the formation of the solar system, consisting of a core of rock, snow, gas and dust. As a comet approaches the Sun, it gets brighter and brighter until it becomes visible to the naked eye. “C/2022 E3” was only recently discovered on March 2, 2022, using the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) wide-field surveillance camera installed on the Samuel Oschin Telescope at Palomar Observatory in California, NASA said in a with statement. The comet will be closest to the Sun around January 12 before approaching Earth on February 1.
The first time since the Neanderthals
The comet’s luminosity continues to grow: measuring magnitude 17.3 when discovered, the star could surpass magnitude 6 in mid-January. As a reminder: the brighter a celestial body is, the lower its brightness. However, “the luminosity of comets is notoriously unpredictable,” the American space agency wants to specify. Even if it is not bright enough, you can still see it with binoculars or a telescope. The latest telescopic image of C/2022 E3 shared by NASA clearly shows the comet’s greenish hair (or coma) as well as a majestic trail, an emission of plasma and dust produced as they approach a star. According to NASA observers, the comet made its first flyby of the sun as early as 50,000 years ago. The last time it came this close was during the Paleolithic period on Earth. This means that the last humans to discover C/2022 E3 (ZTF) were the first living Homo sapiens during the last Ice Age.
You might also be interested in:
⋙ Here is the largest comet ever observed by NASA
⋙ Here are the little mysteries of comets
⋙ Astronomy: Researchers witness a black hole’s ‘birth cry’