The recently discovered Comet ZTF is coming closest to Earth in 50,000 years, visible to the naked eye and making big headlines. Some say it’s a “super rare” and “green” comet, but will it live up to the hype? We explain.
Comet ZTF Facts
Comet ZTF was discovered on March 2, 2022 by a robotic camera telescope attached to the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) at the Palomar Observatory in Southern California. ZTF scans the entire northern sky every two days and takes a shot at hundreds of thousands of stars and galaxies. Many comets have been discovered with this instrument. More recently it is cataloged as C/2022 E3 (ZTF), Comet ZTF for short.
Why is it rare?
Comet ZTF is 2.8 trillion miles away and will make its closest approach to Earth in 50,000 years on February 1, 2023. Orbital calculations suggest Comet ZTF will never return.
What Makes ZTF A Green Comet?
The green color is probably due to molecules made of two carbon atoms linked together, which are called dicarbon. This unusual chemical process is primarily confined to the head, not the tail. If you look at Comet ZTF, it’s likely a very faint (if visible at all) green color. A species of green comet due to dicarbon is quite rare.
Recent photographs show the head (hair) appearing distinctly green and the impressively long red appendage (tail). But that’s what the camera sees with long exposure. It will look much less green to the naked eye.
When and where to see Comet ZTF
In the latter part of January into early February, the ZTF can become clear enough to be seen with the naked eye. Use a fixed star chart to track the nightly change in position for the course of the stars and constellations. Here are the dactyls and the nearby places.
January 12-14
Look at the constellation Corona borealis before sunrise.
January 14-20
Look at the constellation Booten before sunrise.
January 21
The comet will appear in the night sky (previously it would only appear in the morning hours). Look north, above and to the left of Fear.
January 22-25
See nearby the constellation Draco (Dragon).
January 26-27
Several steps to the east face the bowl of Fear. On the evening of the 27th, it will be about three degrees to the upper right of the orange Kochab, the brightest of the two outer stars in the bowl of Fear.
January 29-30
Look towards the Polaris.
February 1
Look up close to the Camelopard Star.
February 5
Look at the famous yellow star Capella (of the constellation Gemini).
February 6
Look inside the triangle known as “The Kids” star pattern in Auriga, directly overhead at around 8pm local time.
February 10
See the two steps to the upper left of Mars.
Note: If you live in a large city or a suburb, seeing these comets will be difficult, if not impossible. Even for those who are blessed with darkness and stardom, finding the ZTF could be a bit of a challenge.
Watch Comet ZTF live now:
More Information About Viewing ZTF
At the tail of comets, two types of dust can be shed: dust and gas. The dust tail is much brighter and more spectacular to the eye than the gas tail, because it is the heaviest dust of the sun. Comets are particularly dusty and can produce long, bright tails, making them awe-inspiring and impressive celestial spectacles.
On the other hand, the tails appear much fainter and glow with a blue color; The gas is excited by the Sun’s ultraviolet rays, causing the tail to glow in much the same way that black light causes phosphorescent paint to glow. Unfortunately, the gas tails produced by most comets appear to be long, thin, thin, and very faint; impressive in photographs but underwhelming visually. This is what we are seeing now with ZTF.
Finally, when the ZTF is at its brightest in late January and early February, it will compete with another celestial object: the Moon. At the same time in the body, the Moon will be almost full (the Snow Moon is full on February 5). Burning in the night sky like a giant arc, the full Moon will make things as dark and diffuse as Comet ZTF even more difficult to see.
Other Viewable Comets
There are about a dozen comets available for viewing in the night sky tonight. Most of these, however, are visible only through medium-sized telescopes. You also need a good star atlas and accurate coordinate positions so you know where you want to point your instrument so you can actually see what they are. Most lovers who look for this point to them call comets “faint fuzzies” because that’s pretty much what they appear to the eye: a faint, hazy blob of light. These are called common comets.
Every once in a while, maybe two or three times over a period of 15 or 20 years, a bright or “great comet” will come. These are the reasons that excite us without binoculars or telescopes: the kind where all you need to do is step outside, look back and exclaim, “Oh look! what!Such comets are usually much larger than average. Most of these have a core or core less than two or three miles. But they are other than that they are greater for several times.
Generally, the closer a comet comes to the Sun, the brighter it is. Large ones that sweep closer than Earth’s distance from the Sun (92.9 million miles) tend to be quite bright. Good examples are Comet Hale-Bopp in the spring of 1997 and Comet NEOWISE (discovered with a robotic space telescope) in the summer of 2020.
So what kind of ZTF isn’t it? In many ways the hair is quite common, but with most other fuzzy fuzzies, the ZTF is the clearest.
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