Tomorrow Wednesday (February 1, 2023) the “green comet” will reach its closest approach to Earth: about 42 million kilometers. It’s been a few days now visible a simple vista (as an astronomical object of stellar magnitude +5) from the northern hemisphere, and during the next few days it will also start to be from the south. Under optimal night sky visibility conditions, the human eye is capable of observing stellar objects up to magnitude +6.
It is already visible to the naked eye as an astronomical object of stellar magnitude +5, with the human eye being capable of observing stellar objects up to magnitude +6.
The comet has begun to be called “green”, because that is the striking color that its coma (the gaseous cloud that surrounds its nucleus) presents in astrophotographs. The object is listed under the name c/2022 E3 (ZTF). The reference to 2022 is because was discovered last year (specifically on March 2) by a couple of American astronomers, through a wide-field camera from the Palomar Observatory, near San DiegoCalifornia, in the USA, integrated into an automated sky observation program called Zwicky Transient Facilityhence the acronym ZTF which also includes the comet’s technical name.
The comet’s nucleus is just under 2 kilometers in diameter.but once it has been getting closer to the Sun (it reached its perihelion on January 12), it began to increase in visibility from Earth, thanks to the deployment of several tails that reach several million kilometers in length.
The comet has a very eccentric orbit and The last time it came close to Earth was no less than 50,000 years ago, during the last ice age, when in Europa cohabited the Neanderthals (already in decline) and the A wise man. It is exciting to know that during some frigid and dark nights back then, our ancestors saw this same green comet in the skies.
comets throughout history
The truth is that there are hundreds of comets that have appeared in the sky throughout the history of mankind. For a long time they were interpreted as heralds of calamities. In ancient Greece, Aristotle, in his treatise “The Meteors” (4th century BC) mistakenly gave them an atmospheric nature. (contradicting the ideas of other Greek philosophers such as Democritus), dragging that error for many centuries, until finally, thanks to the development of Astronomy, we understood that they were objects of extraterrestrial origin that traveled the cosmos.
According to Aristotle, comets formed in the sublunary region.which was one of the regions into which the sky was divided in classical times, leaving below the regions associated with each of the 4 basic elements of nature (air, water, earth and fire) and above the spheres of the planets and the celestial vault, studded with stars.
We had to wait until the 16th century when Following the passage of the Great Comet in 1577, the Danish astronomer Thycho Brahe (1546-1601) correctly deduced that this and the other comets were astronomical objects.which periodically approached Earth, as is the case these days as the comet c/2022 E3 (ZTF).
How to observe the “green comet” (ZFT)
Although, as we have indicated, the comet has already been visible for a few days in the northern hemisphere, Light pollution in our cities and the presence of the Moon during part of the morning make it difficult to observe with the naked eye. of the “little cloud” (a small spot of diffuse light) that we can come to appreciate, so it is advisable to use binoculars (mounted on a tripod) or a small telescope, in which case we will be able to see its long tail.
Will we be able to see a comet with the naked eye in the next few weeks? @Josep_Trigoof @iSpaceScitells us what we know about comet C/2022 E3, known as #ZTF the “green comet”:https://t.co/uZEuo0zNq8
— The Conversation ES (@Conversation_E) January 30, 2023
To be able to observe it successfully, the first thing we must do is get far enough away from cities or population centers, looking for a sky as dark as possible. Too you have to dodge the hours of the moon, for which all get up early, and carry out the observation during the two hours before dawn. Of course, the sky must be cloudless, which this week is guaranteed in most of Spain. We will have to direct our gaze (binoculars or telescope) to the north, specifically to the Little Dipper. We will see the comet not far from its brightest star, Polaralthough in the next few days it will move away towards the neighboring constellation of Auriga (El Cochero), placing itself very close to the bright star Capella on February 5.