A rare green comet last seen 50,000 years ago will be visible across Perth skies on February 2nd, when it passes by Earth some 42 million kilometres away. Dubbed C/2022 E3 (ZTF), the comet has already been spotted in the northern hemisphere’s skies in January and will start to become visible in Australia and New Zealand early next month.
The comet was first discovered by astronomers Frank Masci and Bryce Bolin in March 2022 at the Palomar Observatory in Southern California. At the time, it was 643 million kilometres from the sun in the orbit of Jupiter, and they’ve been tracking it ever since.
According to NASA, the comet has been consistently brightening as it approaches the sun and should be easy to spot with binoculars. Dependent on the weather conditions or light and air pollution, it may even be distinguishable to the naked eye. Scientists believe the green tint comes from the presence of diatomic carbon — a green gaseous inorganic chemical — around the comet’s head.
This may be the last time C/2022 E3 comes our way, as once it sweeps around the sun, it will head back towards deep space, never to return.
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Feature Image: Dan Bartlett/NASA
