Experts point to February 1, which is when the comet will make its closest pass to Earth, as the best time.
Comets are large bodies of dust and ice. It orbits the sun in elliptical paths, accelerating as it approaches perihelion (the closest object passing to the sun), and slowly recedes somewhat to the outer reaches of the solar world.
Every comet has its season; or it takes time to complete an orbit and begin a new one. Short period comets pass by the sun once every 200 years or less. Said comets are not very far in the solar system (mostly only to the Kuiper belt, or the region beyond Neptune), and they begin their return journeys faster.
Other comets can take “a long time” as much as 250,000 years to revisit the center of the solar system. Intrepid bodies operate in orbits that take them to the outer reaches of the system — often 50,000 times farther than short-period comets. Over time, those comets form an oorte cloud, or a group of cometary debris on the outskirts of the solar system.
The icy core of a comet, known as the nucleus, is usually less than 10 miles wide. That is about the size of a small city, or the volume of one great mountain.
Comets heat up as they approach the sun. This causes some of the ice to be removed in gas Gas escapes the comet, it can carry dust with it. The gas/dust mixture engulfs the comet’s nucleus in a cloud that “comes” and then flows in the form of a gently curving tail.
The second wake, which is the tail of the “ion”, which is bound to the ultraviolet rays of the sun, so that the electrons jump out of the coma, always points directly from the sun because of the “solar wind.”
What’s the deal with Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF)?
Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) was discovered by two astronomers on March 2, 2022. They used the Zwicky Transiting Facility, made from an ultrasensitive camera on the Samuel Oschin Telescope attached to the Palomar Observatory in California’s Palomar Mountain Range.
At this point in size it was too dim to be seen with the naked eye (or even a regular telescope). In November, it had lighted up to the point where it was almost visible in dark places with binoculars. It has been found to have a span of about 50,000 years.
It is believed that C2, or diatomic carbon (an image of two carbon atoms joined together), is present in the head of the comet. When it is excited by incoming solar radiation, it emits photons (beams of light) in the green wavelengths we see.
Where has he been all this time?
In a land far, far away. Until comets approach Earth and are bright enough that the faintest human-sensing technology can spot an unidentified “new” object in the night sky, we simply cannot learn of their existence.
Viewers in the Northern Hemisphere can watch the Northern Hemisphere in late January or early February. That said, the comet’s peak is estimated to be a little brighter than magnitude 6, which astronomers consider “barely visible.” But this will be complicated by the waxing of the waxing moon, which will be as if full on the 5th of February.
If you’re hoping to catch a distant, muted glow of light, you’ll find a dark place far from the city lights. Binoculars will probably do the trick, but you’ll also need a little patience.
After a few weeks it will disappear from our skies in the same way it was seen – without much fanfare. The comet is estimated to have a period of 50,000 years along its trajectory. However, there are simulations that indicate that it will “escape” the solar system and essentially outrun the sun’s gravitational forces, which means it will never return – or at least not for the next million years.
#comet #appeared
