by A comet discovered last year will come closest to the Sun next week, providing an excellent opportunity to see it.
Comet C/2022 E3 ZTF was discovered in March 2022 by astronomers at the California Institute of Technology’s Zwicky Transient Facility when it was 397 million miles (640 million kilometers) from the Sun. Astronomers first thought C/2022 E3 ZTF was an asteroid, but its coma, the cloud of ice and dust surrounding its core, was observed soon after. By December 2022, the comet had developed a long tail as it was heated by the Sun.
C/2022 E3 ZTF will reach perihelion, or its closest distance to the Sun, on January 12. If it continues to brighten as much as it has during observations so far, the comet may be visible to the naked eye. To share an amazing view of the comet at perihelion with anyone who is interested, the Virtual Telescope Project is hosting a free live stream of comet C/2022 E3 ZTF starting at 11:00 PM EST on January 12 (0400 GMT on January 13). You can watch the live webcast courtesy of the project’s website (opens in a new tab) or on it YouTube channel (opens in a new tab).
Related: A possible naked-eye comet will visit Earth for the first time since Neanderthals in 2023
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory says (opens in a new tab) that skywatchers in the Northern Hemisphere should be able to spot the comet in dark skies when there is little moonlight, such as when the new moon rises on January 21.
The comet currently has a greenish coma and a long but faint tail. C/2022 E3 ZTF was quite faint when it was first discovered, at magnitude 17.3, but it is expected to reach magnitude 6, making it just bright enough to see with the naked eye under the right conditions. (On the magnitude scale astronomers use, smaller numbers indicate brighter objects.)
On January 12, the comet will zoom through the Solar System at a distance of 100 million miles (160 million km) from the Sun; later, on February 2, the comet will make its closest approach to Earth, or perigee, coming within 26 million miles of our planet.
Comet C/2022 E3 ZTF has not come this close to the Sun in about 50,00 years, meaning that the last time it was this visible in the night sky was in the Upper Paleolithic period. It is possible that some early humans were able to see the comet during this time, or even some of the last Neanderthals.
If you want to take a look at C/2022 E3 ZTF and don’t have the right equipment, be sure to read our guides to the best binoculars and the best telescopes for viewing the comet or anything else in the sky. To capture the best comet images you can, we have recommendations for the best cameras for astrophotography and the best lenses for astrophotography.
Editor’s Note: If you photograph Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) and want to share it with Space.com readers, send your photos, comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com.
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