A rare green comet passes the earth, and it could be the last chance humanity has to see it. Beautiful photos are already telling of what you could see if you look at the sky before dawn and spot the ball of frozen gas and dust.
Officially, the comet is referred to as c/2022 e3 (ztf), named after the transient zwicky facility, which first discovered it in March. But observers call it the ztf comet to make up for it.
This frozen cosmic passageway paints a green band through the sky until the first days of February. You probably need binoculars to spot it, or even a telescope, under dark skies far from city lights.
It probably takes binoculars to detect it, or even a telescope, under a dark sky away from the lights of the city.
(Dan Bartlett, Educator) Laboratory research has linked this aura to a reactive molecule called dicarbon, which emits green light as sunlight decays it.
Although green comets sometimes pass through the earth, it will not come back until around 50,000 years, if ever. That's how long it takes Comet ZTF to orbit the Sun, which means that Neanderthals still walked the Earth when it last whizzed by, during the last Ice Age.
"We like viewing and photographing the comet because bright ones are not only rare, but beautiful like this one. (Dan Bartlett, Business Insider)" We like to see and photograph the comet because bright comets are not just rare.
"[Comets] move amongst the stars from night to night, making them a challenge sometimes to just find."
Comets move between the stars night after night, which sometimes makes it a challenge.
"Observing such an 'icy world' is always very fascinating," Masi told Insider via email.
(gianluca masi/the virtual telescope project)" to observe such a "frozen world" is still very fascinating," masi said initiated by e-mail."
Want to see the green comet yourself? "Would you like to see a green comet?
Go into a dark place, away from the lights of the city, and look at the North Star, polarized, before dawn. Use a telescope as much as possible, or at least bring binoculars.
According to EarthSky.org, the comet is carving a path past the constellations Bootes and Hercules. On earthsky.org, the comet traces a path beyond the booties of constellations and hercules.
This article was originally published by Business Insider.
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