Greenish a comet with a hue from far away, from the edge of the Solar System is already close to Earth.
The name of the green comet in astronomical catalogs is C/2022 E3 (ZTF). It is now close to Earth for the first time in about 50,000 years, astronomers say.
The weather will clear up in places in Finland in the next few days. At least western Finland and elsewhere have been promised clear areas for the rest of the week.
The comet and its tails can be seen with ordinary binoculars. However, searching and finding it can take time.
To the naked eye, the comet may not stand out.
Comet was discovered by astronomers at the Palomar Observatory in southern California in early March 2022. At first it was thought to be an asteroid.
For almost a year, it has been photographed with large telescopes around the world. At the end of January, the comet has been constantly increasing its brightness, he says astronomical association Ursa and its star hobby online magazine Zeniitti.
That’s why now there is an opportunity to see it also with binoculars at home.
Closest The comet will land on February 2nd. Then it will pass the Earth at a distance of about 42.5 million kilometers.
The distance to it is still about 110 times compared to the distance between the Earth and the Moon.
The comet is visible in the Northern Hemisphere sky during dark hours. However, the night sky must be clear.
Excessive snow cover, light pollution and the Moon’s reflection can disturb viewing. Around February 5th, a bright full moon will appear in the sky. The first quarter of the new moon is just filling up, so the Moon is not very bright yet.
The comet is above the horizon at night in Finland all the time until February 10. As the night progresses, it can already be seen high in the sky, says the star enthusiast Veikko Mäkelä online magazine in Zeniiti.
A comet it is best to search in the winter landscape with binoculars in a dark place, says Ursa’s website.
It cannot be observed in, for example, Helsinki, not even from the Ursa Kaivopuisto observatory. Therefore, it is best to look for and observe the comet in remote terrain.
Picture: Petri Salmén / HS, source: Ursa
On Monday On January 30, for example, the comet can be seen from Earth near the constellation Ursa Major. It is between the “bucket” of the part of the Big Dipper known as Otava and the North Star.
Many people are used to finding the North Star by following the imaginary straight extension of the two edge stars of the Big Dipper towards the North Star.
Along it, he can also observe the comet now at the end of January. This art to Pohjantähti has been taught in many schools in Finland as well.
The comet is blotchy and perhaps too dim for the eyes. Then you can try binoculars.
Comet glows a greenish light. It is caused by ultraviolet radiation from the sun that is absorbed by the comet to two joined carbon atoms.
The reaction produces green light that radiates into space.
The abbreviation ZTF is often mentioned at the end of the comet’s name. The reason is that one of the telescopes on Mount Palomar is called the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF). It’s a wide-angle camera and telescope that scans the entire sky.
Comet at the time of discovery in almost March 2022, the comet had just arrived inside the orbit of the planet Jupiter.
It had soared far from the outer edge of our solar system and its icy zones.
Near Jupiter it was still dim, about 25,000 times dimmer than the faintest star in the sky visible to the naked eye, says newspaper The New York Times.
“Each comet is like a living being,” says an astronomer to the magazine Laurence O’Rourke. He works at ESA, the European Space Agency.
“When comets are far from the Sun, they sleep. When they get close to the Sun’s heat, they wake up.”
The “green comet” was already closest to the Sun on January 12 and is now awake.
The comet has two long tails. Its icy gas veil around the comet, or coma, is getting brighter and brighter as the comet approaches Earth.
Comet seeing it still requires an experienced stargazer, speculate experts in The New York Times.
“Even with ordinary binoculars, you should be able to tell that it’s a comet,” he says EC Krupp, Director of the Los Angeles Griffith Observatory.
A telescope helps you see colors and finer details, including the comet’s glowing Coma and long tail.
Sometimes a comet can brighten unexpectedly when dust or ice rearranges inside the comet.
Comet are clumps of dust and frozen gases and rocks. Astronomers sometimes describe them as “dirty snowballs”.
A comet is a so-called long-period comet, and a large number of them come close to Earth from the Oort cloud. The cloud has never been observed, but its existence has been inferred from comets, among other things.
The cloud is located much further than the icy bodies of our solar system in the Kuiper belt. Its outer edge can be up to 2,000 times as far as the dwarf planet Pluto is from us.
Gravity can sometimes push an icy rock mountain towards the Sun, which pulls the rock towards it.
As the comet approaches the Sun, it melts the surface of the icy comet. It releases gas and dust into space as a “tail”.
The green comet has two of these tails, one of which is yellowish. A tail or tails can stretch millions of kilometers into space.
Comet are all remnants of the early solar system. The basic ingredients of life have been found in them, such as different amino acids.
Together with comets, they may have come to Earth as well, at a time when comets were much more common in the solar system.
Soon green comet C/2022 E3 escapes Earth observers far into space. At the same time, its shape has changed because it lost matter to space in its tails.
The comet is now moving away from the inner parts of the solar system at a speed of about 37 kilometers per second.
It is not yet known whether the comet will remain part of our solar system, in which case it might return for another round around the Sun. Its possible tipping point is far away, about 420 billion kilometers away.
Another possibility is that it is ejected from the solar system, into deep space.