Green comet 2023 – live: How best to see 'awesome' E3 in sky as it ...

1 Feb 2023
Green comet
Space
Green comet 2023 – live: How best to see ‘awesome’ E3 in sky as it passes Earth at closest point

C/2022 E3 (ZTF) comet is visible with the naked eye from certain locations

What is a ‘green comet' and where can you see it?

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A green comet is about to fly past Earth before disappearing from our Solar System, never to be seen again.

The comet made its closest approach to Earth in the early hours of 1 February, 2023. At a relatively close 42 million kilometres (26 million miles) from Earth, it offers a rare opportunity for sky gazers to witness a comet.

The C/2022 E3 (ZTF) comet is so rare that woolly mammoths and saber-toothed cats were still roaming the Earth when it last swept by our planet 50,000 years ago.

At its perigee on Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning, the green comet had a brightness value of the magnitude of about +4.7, meaning it was possible to see it with the naked eye.

To find out where in the sky to look, and learn when conditions are best for viewing the comet, you can follow our live coverage in the blog below.

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Live stream of green comet

If it’s too cloudy where you are, or there’s too much light pollution, you can watch a live stream of the green comet passing Earth from various astronomers currently pointing their cameras to the sky.

There are numerous ones to choose from on YouTube, though none from any major observatory at the time of posting this.

Anthony Cuthbertson1 February 2023 02:02

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How to spot green comet if you missed it today

While the comet is expected to slowly fade away from the skies over this week, there may still be chances to get a glimpse of the cosmic entity over the following days.

The comet’s trajectory will take past the bright star Capella on 5 February after which it would swing by Mars on 10 February.

The star as well as the Red Planet might make it easier to spot them on later dates but not for long.

With the ZTF comet expected to be the brightest one visible this year, experts say the darker evening hours before moonrise in the coming days could be the next best bet to spot it in the sky.

Vishwam Sankaran1 February 2023 07:26

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What green comet looks like through telescope

(via REUTERS)

(via REUTERS)

Graeme Massie1 February 2023 07:01

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Astronomers, amateurs share photos of green comet as it makes closest approach to Earth

Amateur space photographers and astronomers share photos of the green comet on Twitter as it makes close approach to Earth.

Vishwam Sankaran1 February 2023 06:45

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How green comet ZTF was discovered

The green comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) was found in March 2022, the discovery largely attributed to astronomers Bryce Bolin and Frank Masci.

While it was initially thought to be an asteroid, the space rock’s condensed coma – its nebulous envelope – indicated it was a comet.

The comet was spotted in a twilight survey by the Caltech-led project the Zwicky Transient Facility.

For the survey, ZTF uses a special camera to take images nearly every 30 seconds through the Palomar Observatory’s forty-eight-inch telescope.

Researchers have taught machine-learning algorithms to detect moving objects in the sky by analysing these images.

“On March 2nd, all we knew was that we had found a moving object. We reported it to the Minor Planet Center – they are the clearing house for these things,” Tom Prince, one of the lead scientists on the project, told The New Yorker.

Vishwam Sankaran1 February 2023 06:13

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Pictures of green comet posted to social media

Graeme Massie1 February 2023 06:09

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Nasa decodes distinctive shape of green comet

The green comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) hurtling past Earth over the last month has been spotted to have not just one or two tails, but three.

Nasa notes in a blog post that the comet not only has a common dust tail, an ion tail, as well as a green gas coma, but also a rare distinctive anti-tail.

While the dust and ion tails are seen trialing comets, the ZTF’s anti-tail was seen seemingly leading the comet.

This anti-tail, seen in some photographs, is an illusion caused by the Earth moving through the comet’s orbital plane.

“The anti-tail does not actually lead the comet, it is just that the head of the comet is seen superposed on part of the fanned-out and trailing dust tail,” Nasa noted.

Triple view of comet ZTF

( Javier Caldera & Miguel Gracia/Nasa)

ZTF is currently visible all night long from northern latitudes, but is expected to fade from observation during the next few weeks and might never return to pass by Earth.

Vishwam Sankaran1 February 2023 05:44

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Some estimates suggest green comet may never again pass by Earth

Researchers say the green comet’s current orbit trajectory may see the space rock booted out of the inner Solar System to never return.

“Some predictions suggest that the orbit of this comet is so eccentric it’s no longer in an orbit—so it’s not going to return at all and will just keep going,” astronomer Jessica Lee from the Royal Observatory Greenwich told Newsweek.

While scientists do not yet have an accurate estimate of how far the comet could get from the Earth, they say if it does return, it may not for at least another 50,000 years.

Whether it returns or not may depend on the perturbations the comet may encounter from losing its mass or from any disturbances it might face while in the Oort cloud.

Vishwam Sankaran1 February 2023 05:19

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The green comet’s path through the sky

Tonight is not the only chance to see the green comet, so don’t lose hope if the weather near you is bad.

This handy map, courtesy of the MISAO Project, shows the path the comet will be taking across the sky over the coming days and weeks.

( MISAO Project)

The early hours of 1 February will see Comet ZTF reach its perigee, meaning it is at its closest point to Earth, but it will still be visible with the naked eye for the next few days in case you don’t get a chance to see it tonight. For a few weeks it will also be possible to see it using binoculars or a telescope.

Graeme Massie1 February 2023 05:03

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What we know about Oort cosmic cloud from where green comet originated

The green comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) making its closest pass by Earth today originated from the Oort Cloud, a cosmic shell of debris encircling the farthest reaches of the Solar System.

Scientists have long known that this region, containing billions or trillions of space debris, is the origin site of long-period comets like ZTF.

This region is thought to be a giant spherical shell encircling the Solar System like a thick-walled bubble made of icy rocks.

It is likely at a massive distance of about one-quarter to halfway from the Sun to the next star, according to Nasa.

Scientists have theorised that this region likely formed as gravity from the Solar System’s planets shoved a vast number of icy rocks away from the Sun, and gravity from the galaxy may have caused debris to settle into a border shell.

The comets from this shell can shed light on the history of the Solar System and have been seen only once in recorded history since their orbital periods are very long.

Vishwam Sankaran1 February 2023 04:53

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