Comet “C/2022 E3 (ZFT)” will pass close to our planet on Thursday. This is a rare opportunity: it is only visible every 50,000 years from the blue planet. La Dépêche du Midi explains how to observe it.
There are appointments for which you should not arrive late. This is definitely one of them. This Thursday, January 12, it will undoubtedly be possible – subject to clear skies – to observe the passage of comet “C/2022 E3 (ZFT)” with the naked eye in the sky. This celestial object, with a diameter of “about one kilometer” will approach closest to the Sun this Thursday, January 12. The event will be all the more spectacular as near our star, the ice and the dust which is on this celestial object will vaporize.
Astronomers discovered Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) in early March. Its coma & tails are visible through a telescope and it’s set to reach closest point to Sun & Earth in Jan & Feb 2021. Could be visible to naked eye in dark skies! #NASA #Comet #SpaceExploration pic.twitter.com/lvsLwtB840
— Nasa Picture Of the Day ud83cudf0du2728 (@APOD_nasa_) December 24, 2022
The appointment is all the more important that the comet does not pass close to our planet – some 42 million kilometers – than every 50,000 years. Its last passage dates back to the time of Neanderthal man, during the Upper Palaeolithic. This comet “E3” was discovered only very recently, in 2020 by the Palomar Observatory in California.
How to observe it?
This comet will be visible from Earth as a small green dot. According to NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, it will be possible to observe the passage of this comet from the northern hemisphere. The celestial object will be visible “in the morning sky as it heads northwest in January. It will become visible in the southern hemisphere in early February,” the specialist site said.
The comet should be between the Little and the Big Bear, more precisely near the constellation Camelopardalis also known as Giraffe Constellation. For a better rendering, a pair of binoculars or a telescope are strongly recommended. And for the “heads in the air”, no worries! the comet should be visible for several days. Several astronomy sites thus affirm that the new moon of January 21, 2023 could again offer an opportunity to see it, if the weather is favorable.