Discovered only last year, Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) will spend the next two weeks approaching our Earth, which it will pass on February 1 at a distance of about 42 million kilometers. So close that you can even see it with the naked eye. When it last came close to our planet 50,000 years ago, Neanderthals were still living in Europe…
Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) can also be observed as a layman. Experts recommend watching for the tail star for the next two weeks. Binoculars help, in very dark conditions it would even be visible with the naked eye.
The comet, catalog named C/2022 E3 (ZTF), was discovered on March 2, 2022, at the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) at Palomar Observatory in California. So far, its development has adhered to astronomers’ brightness predictions. Telescopic images show the comet’s bright greenish coma, a short broad dust tail and a long faint ion tail.
Maximum brightness at the end of January
The celestial body is expected to reach its maximum brightness in late January. “The brightness is currently developing better than predicted, which looks very good,” said Alexander Pikhard of the Vienna Working Group for Astronomy (WAA) a week ago.
To avoid disturbing moonlight and because of the predicted brightness development, the expert recommends observing in the days before new moon (January 21) to about half moon (January 28). “In the evening it is still quite far north, but from about midnight it appears high in the sky from north to northeast,” says Pikhard.
When searching, it helps to orient yourself to the constellation “Little Dipper” with the North Star. However, expectations should not be too high, because C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is certainly not comparable to comet NEOWISE (picture above), which was clearly visible in the summer of 2020, the expert emphasized.
It is currently impossible to make predictions about the railway
The orbit of C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is inclined more than 90 degrees from the ecliptic. According to current calculations, it is a comet with a long period. However, the celestial body will probably be deflected by the gravity of the large planets on its way through the solar system, so that statements about its further orbit cannot yet be made.
Solar wind forms the tail of the comet
Many comets move through the solar system in very elliptical orbits: they come from the outskirts and come very close to the sun, thaw and create the often spectacular tail. It is formed by the so-called solar wind, a constant stream of particles from our central star that blows the mixture of dust and gas away from the comet.
Comets are considered to be leftovers from the formation of our solar system about 4.6 billion years ago. They are made up of a mixture of ice, dust, and rock, and so are often compared to dirty snowballs. The ice contains not only frozen water, but also carbon dioxide (“dry ice”), methane and ammonia.
Source: Krone
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