When the comet C/2022 E3 (ZFT) recently became visible to the naked eye in the night sky, it put on an incredible display for skywatchers.
Essentially, NPR explains that comets are collections of frozen gases, rock, and dust. However, as they get closer to the sun and warm up, they transform into strong cosmic objects that shoot forth gases and dust, giving them their recognizable shapes of incandescent cores and long, flame-like tails.
Fortunately, sightings of the comet will still appear until February this year. For space enthusiasts who want to witness this once-in-a-lifetime event, watchers in the Northern Hemisphere will have the best chance of seeing the comet if they search the northwesterly skies soon before daybreak.
What Comet 2022 E3 (ZTF) Looks Like
Space reports that an image was recently captured by John Chumack of GalacticImages.com near Yellow Springs, Ohio. Chumack writes that the comet "was estimated to be shining around 11.00 magnitude, you can definitely see its tail and the 2.5 arc-min Green Coma."
Without a telescope, Comet 2022 E3 (ZTF) appears greener and fainter than it really appears in the sky. According to Space's description, the comet contains two tails, one of which is incredibly long and has a distinctive greenish hue, as seen in recent photographs. The comet's head appears green, most likely due to a substance called dicarbon, which is made up of two carbon atoms bonded together. This particular chemical process is mainly confined to the head of the comet, not the tail.
Comets often create two different types of comet tails, one mostly composed of gas and the other primarily composed of dust. Dust tails are more stunning to the eye than gas tails because dust is an excellent reflector of sunlight. The most beautiful comets are dusty, have long, brilliant tails, and are amazing celestial displays.
Gas tails also have a bluish color and are much fainter. The gas is ignited by the Sun's UV radiation, which makes the tail glow in a manner akin to that of phosphorescent paint under black light.
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Comet 2022 E3 (ZTF) Past, Future Sightings
The long-period comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) was discovered for the first time in 2022 by the Zwicky Transient Facility utilizing the 1.2-m, f/2.4 Schmidt telescope on Mount Palomar. It was a tiny 17th-magnitude speck in the constellation Aquila at the time of discovery, situated five times further from the Sun than Earth.
Tech Times also reports that it will be traversing several degrees to the east of the bowl of the Little Dipper on the evenings of Jan. 26 and Jan. 27. On the evening of Jan. 27, it will be 3.5° to the upper right of orange Kochab, the brightest of the two outer stars in the bowl.
The C/2022 E3 (ZTF) will be located inside the borders of the hazy and faint constellation of Camelopardalis on the evening of Feb. 1, when it will be passing closest to Earth. On Feb. 5, it will pass just a few degrees to the west of the dazzling yellow-white star Capella and will be directly overhead within the "The Kids" asterism in Auriga during the next night.
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