A comet visible to the naked eye will approach the Earth at the end of January

A comet discovered by a California telescope in March 2022, C/2022 E3 (ZTF), will pass relatively close to Earth during January of the new year and may even be visible to the naked eye by the end of month.

The comet will make its closest approach to the Sun (perihelion) on January 12 at a distance of about 160 million kilometers from it. It will then approach our planet, where it is expected to reach its closest distance (perigee) of 42 million km on February 1 or 2.

According to the US space agency (NASA), the New Moon on January 21 offers an opportunity to observe the comet in the night sky.

The comet is estimated to have a period of about 50,000 years, which means that the last time it approached Earth, Neanderthals were still alive, and our ancestors Homo sapiens had also made their appearance. Of course, even if they had seen him, they wouldn’t have understood what he was talking about.

The latest pictures of C/2022 E3 – which initially looked like an asteroid but then began to brighten – show it to have a distinctive golden tail and a plume of bluish-greenish gas and dust. The comet is already visible with telescopes and powerful binoculars when the sky is clear in the evenings.

RES-EMP

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