A New Comet is occurring these nights on the night sky

“A comet last visible during the Stone Age has appeared for the first time over Stonehenge”

When Halley comet arrived in 1066, people thought the world was doomed. Little did they know about the wonders of the sky, and they thought it was a bad omen. Just like Hailey’s comet, which turns up every 76 years, the Green Comet, C/2022 E3 (ZTF), which is occurring these nights in the night sky, was last spotted around 50,000 years ago during the Stone Age period. The time when kangaroos and dinosaur-sized wombats witnessed the beauty of C/2022 E3 (ZTF). You must be wondering why astronomers, physicists, and, more importantly, astrophotographers are obsessed over a comet. You see, a comet is a key that holds the secrets of habitable planets.

By observing the characteristics of a planet, we can learn a lot about its composition—can step up our understanding of the outer world. The most interesting part is that we didn’t know about the existence of Green Comet until recently. It was discovered in March 2022, when it was revolving around Jupiter at the Zwicky Transient Facility in California, US, using the wide-field survey camera.

But what are comets? The word comes from the Greek word “komētēs,” which means “long-haired.” Previously, comets were referred to as long-tressed stars and described as the thick smoke of human sins, filled with stench and horror, and a representation of a fiery, angry God or Supreme Heavenly Judge. Now we know that comets are cosmic snowballs that orbit the Sun, are remnants of the solar system, and are composed of frozen gases, rocks, and dust.

How was it discovered?

This comet was discovered by two astronomers, Frank Masci, and Bryce Bolin, on March 2, 2022. They were on the lookout for new celestial objects and were using the Zwicky Transient Facility (hence the “Z.T.F. “), which is a wide-field camera situated at the Palomar Observatory that is positioned to scan the Northern Hemisphere’s night sky—every two days. When the C/2022 E3 (ZTF) was spotted, it was approximately 643 million kilometers (399 million miles) from the Sun, according to Space.com.

After its discovery, Japanese observer Hirohisa observed the comet’s coma (a cloud of variant gases that surrounds the nucleus of a comet). Astronomers also confirmed this discovery with the archival data that hinted at a comet, which was first known on October 25, 2021, according to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory database.

Why C/2022 E3 (ZTF) was named “Green Comet”?

The C/2022 E3 (ZTF) has been nicknamed “Green Comet” because of its bright green glow. And why is the comet green? What is happening there? It’s green because of its coma; as you know, comets are made of icy gases and dust, so when it orbits the Sun, it gradually heats up and the gases transform into a giant glowing head that is larger than most planets. The comet’s gases and dust form a tail-like structure that stretches away from the Sun for about millions of miles.

In this case, the C/2022 E3 (ZTF) gases shroud surrounding its nucleus. The comet’s nucleus contains a reactive compound called C2 (diatomic carbon). Diatomic carbon, when exposed to sunlight, starts to reflect bright green wavelengths, which is the reason why the head of the comet is giving off green light. However, sunlight’s ultraviolet rays can also cause C2 to break down. This explains why the tail of the green comet is not green, an expert says.

The code name C/2022 E3 (ZTF) says a lot about its discovery. The “C” represents a non-periodic comet, which says it takes 200+ years to orbit the Sun; “2022” indicates the year of discovery; “E3” denotes that it was the 3rd comet discovered in the 5th half-month; “F denotes the other half-month of the march; and “ZTF” is the abbreviation term for Zwicky Transient Facility, which tells that the comet was discovered in this observatory.

Where is the comet now?

When it was found, C/2022 E3 (ZTF) was about 640 million kilometers from the Sun. In early November, it moves slowly in the Corona Borealis and Serpens (a small constellation present in the Northern Celestial Hemisphere), parallel to Earth. It was visible by the end of November. During mid-December, it started developing a greenish coma, a short dust tail, and a faint ion tail that was stretching across a 2.5-degree wide field of view. By the end of January, it moved northward, passing across Constellation Boötes, Draco, and Ursa Minor within about 10 degrees of Polaris

The comet passed closest to the sun on January 12, 2023 (166 million kilometers), and it was visible to the naked eye in a clear night sky on January 16 and 17. However, a strong solar wind erupted from the coronal mass ejection on this day, causing a strange disconnection event of the comet’s ion tail. On January 22, the anti-tail of the comet becomes visible, pointing towards the Sun. It closest approached the Earth near the north celestial pole on February 1 at a distance of 42 million kilometers (0.28 AU).

As of now, the comet will pass about 1.5 degrees from the bright star Capella; it will be visible because of the waxing gibbous and brightening full moon. So if you want to observe the beauty of this once-in-a-lifetime stargazing event, now is your chance.

From February 10 to 11, the green comet will pass about 1.5 degrees from Mars, the orbit of another planet. From 13 to 15 February, it will move across the Hyades cluster.

Can I see the green comet without a telescope?

Only if the sky was as clear as a mirror. Not all comets are visible to our naked eyes, but this green comet has already been spotted by a few observers without any advanced equipment due to the moon’s perfect position and lightning.

So, yeah, you too can see the comet when it makes its closest approach to the Earth (at a distance of 0.28 AU). Although you can use binoculars to observe the comet, A telescope, or even a pair of binoculars, will provide a clearer and more detailed view.
Where should I be looking to spot the green comet?
Your best bet is to go out around the 4th or 5th of February, go somewhere really dark—a place that has minimal to no bright light at night—and then look for a tiny smear in the night sky.

The green comet is north of our skies; go for the comet’s gaze after midnight. The comet will most likely be visible in the southern hemisphere in early February.

Why is this Green Comet is so special?

The comet that everyone is talking about was found in the twilight survey. It comes under the category of long-period comets, meaning it takes about 200 years to orbit the Sun. It’s not likely to spot a comet like that in many, many years, taking its orbit into account. C/2022 E3 (ZTF), the Green Comet is special because it comes from the Oort cloud (Green comet’s origin, a part of our solar system but so far away that even Voyager 1, which was sent into space in 1977, will take a few more centuries to reach it) and it takes somewhere around 200 to 1 million years to complete one single transit of the solar system.

Where will this Green comet go?

The green comet is a long-period comet, meaning it will take around 200 years to 1 million years to orbit the Sun. As it originated, or you can say came, from the Oort cloud, it is going to gradually move far from the Sun and will eventually head back to the Oort cloud. It will take 50,000 years or more to make its next appearance.

“Turn up your telescopes, astronomy enthusiasts, to witness this once-in-a-lifetime event.”