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Stock image: An illustration of a comet. A recently
discovered comet could become visible with the naked eye from Earth soon. |
A comet that only orbits the sun once every 50,000
years is expected to be visible from Earth with the naked eye. The last time
the comet visited, the Sahara desert was wet and fertile, Neanderthals and
woolly mammoths still walked the Earth, and humans were—as far as we know—yet
to reach North America.
C/2022 E3 (ZTF) was first spotted by the Zwicky
Transient Facility (ZTF) on March 2, 2022, and is set to reach its closest
point to the sun, or perihelion, on January 12, 2023. ZTF is an astronomical
survey conducted by the Palomar Observatory in California.
Comets are "cosmic snowballs" made up of
frozen gases, dust and rock that orbit the sun. As they approach our star,
these fragile constructs are blasted with increasing amounts of radiation, a
process that can produce two vast tails of gas and dust.
Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is currently located around
117 million miles from Earth. It is scheduled to make a close approach to our
planet in early February, 2023, coming within roughly 26 million miles of us on
the first day of the month. This is equivalent to more than 109 times the
average distance between the Earth and the moon.
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The icy body has maintained its current trend in brightness.
(Representative Image) |
Predicting the brightness of comets with accuracy is
very challenging. But current data indicates that C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is expected
to reach at least magnitude +6 by around the time of its close approach to
Earth.
When measuring the brightness of astronomical
objects, the brighter a given object is, the lower its magnitude. For example,
an object with magnitude +2 is brighter than one that has a magnitude of +8.
"It's notoriously hard to predict the
brightness of comets, however, sky watchers everywhere have been keeping track
of Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) since it was discovered in March 2022, and the current
prediction is that it might reach magnitude +6—the limit of what the naked eye
can see—or even slightly brighter when it's at its closest approach to the
Earth on the 1st of February," Tania de Sales Marques, an astronomer at
the Royal Observatory Greenwich in the United Kingdom, told Newsweek.
Robert Massey, deputy executive director of the U.K.
Royal Astronomical Society, told Newsweek that under very good conditions the
comet, which is estimated to complete one orbit around the sun every 50,000
years, might be visible to the naked eye as soon as the second half of January.
The predicted peak brightness of the object is around magnitude 4.7 around
February
If current brightness predictions are correct,
C/2022 E3 (ZTF) will be the first naked eye comet since NEOWISE put on a
spectacular show in 2020. But expectations for C/2022 E3 (ZTF) should be lower,
Massey said.
"I've seen rising interest in this comet,
though it won't be anything like NEOWISE," he said.
C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is currently visible with good
binoculars or a telescope in the early hours of the morning before dawn and is
passing through the constellation of Corona Borealis, in the north-west
direction. It will get easier to spot the comet over the next few weeks as it
gradually brightens.
"It's traveling in the general direction of
Polaris, the North Star, where we'll be able to find it in early
February," Marques said. "By then, it should be visible throughout
the night."
Massey said the comet will not be the easiest object
to find. He recommends looking on a clear night from a dark site—away from
light pollution—when the moon is not in the sky, so it is best to avoid the
days around the full moon on February 6.
"I would recommend the use of a finder chart
like this one to help find it with binoculars," Massey said.
"Binoculars are ideal for beginners trying to find a comet as they're easy
to use, whereas a telescope has a much smaller field of view. If you can see it
with binoculars then try with your naked eye."
Since the comet will still be quite faint around the
time of its close approach, people in areas with dark skies might be able to
spot it with their own eyes, but a pair of binoculars will improve your chances
of success, Marques said.
"Although it's unlikely that it will be as
impressive as comet NEOWISE, it's still worth trying to catch a glimpse of
C/2022 E3 (ZTF) since it won't return for another 50,000 years," Marques
said.
The comet will likely fade below naked eye
visibility by the second week of February next year. And by April it will be
close to the sun in the sky and significantly fainter, so will be very hard to find
even with a telescope.
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