A newly discovered comet will soon be visible from Earth for the first time in 50,000 years

A newly discovered comet will soon be visible from Earth for the first time in 50,000 years
A newly discovered comet will soon be visible from Earth for the first time in 50,000 years
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Comet “C/2022 E3 (ZTF)” was discovered last March. It is currently heading towards the Sun and will be easy to observe with good binoculars and maybe even with the naked eye during the weekend of January 21-22, according to AFP, quoted by News.ro.

The recently discovered comet “C/2022 E3 (ZTF)” will pass close to the Sun this week and could be visible to the naked eye in late January.

The small, rocky and icy body, estimated to be about 1 kilometer in diameter, was discovered in March 2022 by the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) Sky Astronomy Program, which operates the Samuel-Oschin Telescope at the Palomar Observatory in California.

Spotted as it passed through Jupiter’s orbit, the comet is currently heading towards the Sun and will reach perihelion, or its closest point to the Sun, on January 12, according to astronomers’ calculations.

The celestial object will then be “10% further” from the Sun than Earth is (approximately 150 million kilometers), Nicolas Biver, from the Paris-PSL Observatory, told AFP.

When a comet approaches the Sun, the ice contained in its nucleus leaves a long trail of dust that reflects the Sun’s light.

The comet will reach its peak brightness “when it is closest to Earth,” explains Thomas Prince, a professor of physics at the California Institute of Technology who works for ZTF.

However, the phenomenon will be less spectacular than during the passage of Hale-Bopp (1997) or Neowise (2020), much larger.

The star will be easily observed with good binoculars and maybe even with the naked eye during part of the night, under a sky without much Moon and without light pollution.

The best viewing window should be the weekend of January 21-22 and the following week.

During this time, the comet will pass between the Ursa Minor and Ursa Major constellations before plunging into the southern hemisphere and returning to the limits of the solar system.

Its final visit will be an opportunity for scientists to understand more about the composition of comets, particularly thanks to observations by the James Webb Space Telescope.

source: News.ro

The article is in Romanian

Tags: newly discovered comet visible Earth time years

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