An icy visitor from a distant solar world is passing through our neighborhood.
Long Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is now visible with a medium-sized telescope and, if its trend in illumination continues, will be easily spotted in binoculars, and possibly with the naked eye in a dark enough sky.
You may remember Comet C/2021 A1 (Leonard) visible in the pre-dawn hours of December 2021, or Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) in July 2020 which survived a close encounter with the Sun, long enough to provide some evening viewing as well. .
The view C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is expected to fall somewhere in between. Not as bright as NEOWISE, but easier to see than Leonard.
A challenge in observing comets is that they are most visible when they are closest to the Sun as the evaporating ice has thrown up a dust tail ignited by the Sun. When objects in the sky are closest to the Sun, they are also low on the horizon near sunrise, so that they are lost in the Sun’s glare.
This one is the Comet ZTF. Its journey through the solar system takes it along a path that is much higher in our sky, and keeps it above the horizon in the darkest hours of the morning.
Viewing tips
See C/2022 E3 (ZTF) looking north in the hours before sunrise. Unlike the previous comet, this one now has a very compact comet, a cloud of glowing vapor immediately surrounding the comet and a short, thin tail.
The comet will be slightly higher, approximately midway between the horizon and directly overhead (Zenith). See among the stars the Corona Borealis and Hercules.
Comets will move north throughout the month.
When it reaches its closest point to the sun on January 12, it will be roughly midway between the left hand of Hercules and the C-string of the constellation Borealis. The comet will move between Hercules next week and it hopefully gets brighter the closer it gets.
The best time can be on January 26 when the comet appears above the big dipper though Feb. 2 when Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is closest to Earth.
The comet is about magnitude 7.6 and there is hope that it will reach magnitude 6, more than quadrupling its brightness.
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