This green celestial body with a diameter of barely a kilometer will be visible to planet Earth again 50,000 years later. To return to its previous approach to our planet, it is necessary to go back to the Paleolithic ice age.
C / 2022 E3 (ZTF) is divided into March 2022. The Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) program team, which operates the Samuel-Oschin Telescope at Palomar Observatory in California, in 640 million km when it was in the orbit of Jupiter.
The date will be closest to Earth
The near-ice ice (closest distance from the Sun) reached it on January 12, however, it will be most noticeable in between Between January 21st and February 1st, Since it is in the lunar phase, the new moon provides greater darkness, which makes observing it with binoculars. This is how NASA explains it:
Comets are notoriously unpredictable, but if this continues in its present bright trend, it will be easy to spot with binoculars, and very likely to arrive. be visible to the naked eye under a dark sky“.
The culprit is located in North Westand the Most recommended time To see it will be before dawn. In addition, it will be best observed in the Northern Hemisphere, although it can also be seen from the Southern Hemisphere. However, in This studio Explain the reasons more precisely.
Name bombing
From its name C/2022 E3 (ZTF), we can draw several conclusions: c. indicates that he is guilty No newspaper It has an orbital period of more than 200 years. 2022 It was the year I became aware of its existence, and it is, as we mentioned before March of that year in California. e 3 indicates that it was The third astronomical body Which was discovered in the year 2022. Finally, it was discovered telescope The method by which this comet was found was the method used by the Zwicky Transient Facility. (ZTF).
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