Green comet

A circle indicating the position of C/2022 E3 (ZTF) has been added to this image from our Night Sky Map, looking north from New York at 21:00 (9:00 pm) local time on February 1 (click to zoom in). A bright Moon will make comet observations more difficult. What Is the Green Comet? C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is a green-ish comet that was discovered on March 2 last year. It reached its closest point to the Sun on January 12. The Green Comet will be at its closest to Earth—and at its brightest in our skies—on February 1. When comets are close to the Sun, they warm up. Sometimes—but not always—they develop distinctive tails of gas and dust. The head of the comet can glow green due to the presence of a chemical called diatomic carbon. Can I See It with the Naked Eye? The brightness of an object for observers on Earth is measured by apparent magnitude. The higher the number, the fainter the object. The magnitude of Sirius, the brightest star, is -1.4; Polaris, the North Pole star, is 2.0. The faintest magnitude that can be seen with the naked eye in good dark-sky conditions is roughly 6.5. At its brightest, the magnitude of C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is predicted to be about 5.0. This means it may be observable with the naked eye, in dark skies away from light pollution, around the end of January and the beginning of February. It will not be easy to observe: at best, it will appear as a faint smudge. The beautiful images we’ll enjoy in the media—showing the comet as a bright green star with a long tai...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A comet is streaking back our way after 50,000 years. The dirty snowball last visited during Neanderthal times, according to NASA. It will come within 26 million miles (42 million kilometers) of Earth Wednesday before speeding away again, unlikely to return for millions of years. So do look up, contrary to the title of the killer-comet movie “Don’t Look Up.” Discovered less than a year ago, this harmless green comet already is visible in the northern night sky with binoculars and small telescopes, and possibly the naked eye in the darkest corners of the Northern Hemisphere. It’s expected to brighten as it draws closer and rises higher over the horizon through the end of January, best seen in the predawn hours. By Feb. 10, it will be near Mars, a good landmark. Skygazers in the Southern Hemisphere will have to wait until next month for a glimpse. WATCH: How Rosetta can help decipher a comet’s secrets While plenty of comets have graced the sky over the past year, “this one seems probably a little bit bigger and therefore a little bit brighter and it’s coming a little bit closer to the Earth’s orbit,” said NASA’s comet and asteroid-tracking guru, Paul Chodas. Megan McGrew/ PBS NewsHour Green from all the carbon in the gas cloud, or coma, surrounding the nucleus, this long-period comet was discovered last March by astronomers using the Zwicky Transient Facility, a wide field camera at Caltech’s Palomar Observatory. That explains its official, cumber...

For one night only! Meet C/2022 E3 (her friends call her the green comet for short). Who is she? A potentially unprecedented celestial happening. You could trade in your typical evening blue light for some green light instead. It's a connection to history and the galaxy that won't try to sell you something. • C/2022 E3 is a comet marked by its • It was discovered in March 2022, and has been visible by telescope. But on Wednesday night, the comet was poised to be most visible to the naked eye in the northern hemisphere as it passed by. • This was the first time ever (or at the very least in thousands of years) that the comet would cross paths with Earth. And you got to watch! Here’s my first effort at capturing the “Green Comet”, Comet c/2022 E3 (ZTF). This was a particular challenge due to humid conditions and clouds, but I’m thrilled I was able to capture it at all! What's the big deal? We know very little about C/2022 E3, but it appears that its long orbit takes it from the outer expanses of the solar system and • It was discovered at the Zwicky Transient Facility on Palomar Mountain in California by astronomers Bryce Bolin and Frank Masci. • Now, we got to see it from a mere 26.4 million miles away. That's the closest it will come to Earth on its trip. • This comet hasn't been this close since the Paleolithic era. You'll be seeing the same colors in the sky as some long-gone but never-forgotten little freaks What are people saying? The green comet I captured last night....

The first discovered in March 2022 by astronomers Frank Masci and Bryce Bolin using the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) at the Palomar Observatory in California, has been brightening since November, wowing astrophotographers with its brilliant green tail. Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is currently making its way through the northern skies and should reach its brightest magnitude in early February, according to In-The-Sky.org as it approaches perigee on Feb. 1. To see the comet for yourself, look to the north just after sunset and look for a faint greenish glow. Under the right dark sky conditions, the comet could be visible to the unaided eye, but An illustration of the night sky on Feb. 10 showing the position of comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) near Mars. (Image credit: TheSkyLive.com) If conditions aren't right for late night or early morning skywatching in your area, you're still in luck: The Virtual Telescope Project will be hosting a free livestream of comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF). The stream begins on Feb. 1 at 11:00 p.m. EST (0400 GMT) and can be watched courtesy of the project's website or YouTube channel. Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) has already put on quite a show for astrophotographers, leading to scores of breathtaking pictures of the gorgeously green comet. In January, strong solar winds caused part of the comet's tail to break off in what astronomers call a disconnection event. More recently, SpaceWeather.com reported that comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) formed what is known as an "anti-tail," a phen...

We could be the last humans to ever see the green comet hurtling past Earth from the C/2022 E3 (ZTF), or Comet ZTF for short — the name astronomers gave this space snowball after the Zwicky Transient Facility discovered it in March — hasn't been in our cosmic neighborhood since the last Ice Age. With no telescopes or binoculars, those ancient peoples may not have spotted the comet at all. And there may never be an opportunity to see it again. "Some predictions suggest that the orbit of this comet is so eccentric it's no longer in an orbit — so it's not going to return at all and will just keep going," Jessica Lee, an astronomer at Royal Observatory Greenwich, told So it might be worth the effort to look for Comet ZTF and become one of the few humans to ever see it up close. Here's what you need to know to maximize your chances. When to see the green comet You may need a small telescope to spot Comet ZTF, but binoculars could be enough. Bryan Allen/Getty Images In the Northern Hemisphere, the green comet was visible just before dawn in late January, according to A completely shaded new moon provided ideal dark skies for spying the comet on January 21. If you missed that, your last, best chance to see the comet in the Northern Hemisphere was on and around Monday, January 30, when ZTF was between the end of the Big Dipper and Polaris, the North Star. Then on early February 1 and February 2, the comet will be visible in the Southern Hemisphere, when it makes its closest pass b...

The comet, known as EarthSky. The comet has been brightening in the night sky since January and will pass between the orbits of Mars and Earth over the next couple of nights, traveling at around 128,500 mph (207,000 km/h). Viewers in the Northern Hemisphere who have a clear view of the night sky away from significant light pollution will be able to spot the comet without a telescope. If you're unable to get to a place with clear skies, however, you can still catch the action by tuning into the Virtual Telescope Project's livestream of the event, which will start at 11 p.m. EST, or watching here: — — — "It's the patch of sky immediately to the right of North, bounded between the Dippers," Ben Burress, an astronomer at Chabot Space and Science Center in California, told KQED. "Right now the comet is between the Big and Little Dippers. It will look like a small fuzzy patch of light, possibly slightly greenish." Why green? As comets whiz by the sun, the star's energy vaporizes the comet's ices into gas, which form a coma — a tenuous, short-lived atmosphere around the rocky body. The color of that coma depends on the makeup of its gas. In the case of Comet C/2022 E3, some of that gas contains diatomic carbon, a molecule made up of two fused carbon atoms. When those molecules are blasted by ultraviolet radiation, they glow green. Comet C/2022 E3 was discovered in March 2022 by astronomers using the Zwicky Transient Facility in California. JoAnna Wendel is a freelance science wri...

On Feb. 1, a bright-green comet named C/2022 E3 (ZTF) will make a close approach to Earth for the first time in 50,000 years. Swooping within 26 million miles (42 million kilometers) of our planet, the comet will offer a rare night-sky spectacle last seen when modern humans shared our planet with Neanderthals. But you don't have to wait until February for your chance to glimpse the comet; it is already visible in the late night and early morning sky. Stargazers have been following the comet's path for weeks now and got a particularly good look at it on Jan. 12, when the comet made its closest approach to the sun (a phenomenon called perihelion). As of Jan. 30, skywatchers are reporting that the comet has a brightness value of magnitude +4.6, meaning it is slightly brighter than the faintest objects visible to the naked eye. The comet's brightness may increse further as it swoops nearer to Earth. A NASA image showing the comet's predicted path during the end of January and beginning of February. (Image credit: NASA) When astronomers first detected C/2022 E3 in March 2022, the comet was racing through the solar system around 399 million miles (642 million km) from the sun, or just within the orbit of Jupiter. Even though the object was faint — about 25,000 times fainter than the dimmest stars visible to the naked eye, according to Live Science's sister site Space.com— the researchers soon made out a distinct tail, or coma, proving the object was indeed a comet rather than an...