How to See a Green Comet Streak Past Earth
If you are not immortal, the next few weeks will be your only chance to see Comet ZTF (C/2022 E3). The newly discovered chunk of ice and rock will glow green in the night sky in the first few weeks of February, and it won’t return to Earth for 50,000 years – if ever.
The green comet will fly at about 128,000 miles per hour at a cosmically close distance of only 26 million miles from Earth. Tonight, February 1, it will be as close as possible to our planet, but the relatively bright Moon will make it difficult for most of us to observe. However, as the Earth’s shadow falls over the Moon’s surface over the next few weeks, this colorful guest in our night sky will become easier to see.
Where to look in the sky to see a green comet
Comet ZTF (C/2022 E3) is visible in the northern sky. To find it, find the constellation Ursa Minor. The tip of his pen is the North Star, the North Star. The comet will be to the upper right of Polaris and move due east over the next few weeks. As an added bonus, the comet will appear near Mars on February 10th. Here’s a much more detailed guide on where to see the comet if you’re looking to take your celestial weed trip.
You may be able to see the comet with the naked eye if you find a particularly dark spot for it, but binoculars are highly recommended. Better yet, a telescope. C/2022 E3 (ZTF) must be large and bright enough to be seen in a six-inch or larger telescope, and the image must be detailed enough to make out its seductive emerald hue. If you don’t want to defy cold temperatures for a tiny dot in the sky, you can watch the Virtual Telescope Project livestream. It starts today at 11:00 pm ET.
Why is C/2022 E3 (ZTF) green?
The green comet’s coma, the hazy shell around the nucleus, appears blue-green because the sun’s ultraviolet light breaks down organic molecules into simpler compounds, including diatomic carbon, which glows green. But maybe it’s magic or something. Who can say?
Where did the green comet come from and what does it want?
According to the best hypotheses of scientists, ZTF (C / 2022 E3) comes from the Oort Cloud at the far edge of the solar system. This theoretical cloud of icy debris is so far away (between 0.03 and 3.2 light years) that it is only loosely associated with the solar collection of planets, and sometimes the gravitational pull of passing stars pulls comets towards us. This seems to be exactly what happened with ZTF (C/2022 E3).
Comets with very elliptical trajectories are prone to breaking their orbits due to the gravitational pull of other celestial bodies, so every time this comet’s orbit takes it into the inner solar system, there’s a chance it will break free from our Sun’s gravitational pull and travel. out of the solar system completely, to some unknown distant place. This is probably what awaits the green comet. Scientists believe that the most likely culprit is Jupiter, which will forever be known as the planet that stole our beloved comet from us.