Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF), discovered only last year, is now, after 50,000 long years, slowly approaching the flyby of Earth. According to NASA, it should be closest to our planet on February 2nd, and according to astronomers, it is quite possible that we will be able to see it with the naked eye during this period.
Clarity cannot be predicted
The press secretary of the Astronomical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Pavel Suchan, estimates the chances that the comet will be seen without a telescope at about fifty percent. It depends on how C/2022 E3 (ZTF), which has recently increased its brightness, continues to “behave”.
“There can be a so-called outburst, or basically an explosion and release of material from the comet’s nucleus, and thus further brightening. At the same time, however, nothing like this has to happen, and the released material may start to decrease,” said Suchan, adding that it is impossible to estimate the further development of the comet’s brightness.
January 12 will be key in this matter. This is when C/2022 E3 (ZTF) will reach its closest point to the Sun. There, the comet should heat up the most, and as a result significant changes in brightness can be expected.
However, astronomers do not expect C/2022 E3 (ZTF) to put on a similar spectacle as the last unmissable comet NEOWISE in 2020. It shone very brightly and its long tail was clearly visible. According to Suchan, the green comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) will look more like a blurry star if we see it without telescopes.
You won’t see anything from the city
If you want to observe a comet, you will need to find a place with low light pollution. In bigger cities, you probably have no chance. According to the light pollution map, the best places to observe the night sky in the Czech Republic are Šumava, Beskydy, Jizerské hory, Podyjí, Manětín and České Švýcarsko. You can view the light pollution map of the Czech Republic here.
According to Suchan, seeing a comet with one’s own eye is generally a relatively rare phenomenon. “A person can see about one bright comet with the naked eye every decade,” said the astronomy popularizer, noting that of course it depends on whether one is actively looking for such an observation.
Look above the Big Dipper at the turn of the month
At the moment, C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is best seen in binoculars in the early morning, and after January 16, when the view stops being obstructed by the Moon, it will be visible from about one in the morning. At the turn of January and February, when the comet approaches 42 million kilometers to the Earth, it will not “handle” at all and will stay in the sky all night.
In this period, according to Suchan, you can look for the comet ten degrees from Polaris, while it will gradually pass over the drawbar of the Big Dipper towards the Giraffe constellation. Around this date, according to Suchan, the comet will also be relatively fast and every 24 hours it will be 12 diameters of the Moon further away.
The comet got its name from the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) telescope system that discovered it last March. Scientists estimate that it is approaching the Earth for the second time after 50,000 years, based on the calculation of the length of its path.
