When is the best time to see the once-in-a-lifetime 'green' comet in Spain?

The last time Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) approached Earth was around 50,000 years ago

ÁNGEL DE LOS RÍOS / AGENCIES

Monday, 30 January 2023, 14:02

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The ‘green’ comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF), only discovered in March last year, will be closest to Earth on 1 February, and it is expected that it could even be seen with the naked eye from Spain.

Greenish in appearance in the latest telescope observations, C/2022 E3 (ZTF) recorded its perihelion (the point at which an orbiting body is closest to the sun) on 12 January.

It will soon pass within 42 million kilometres of Earth at its closest approach on 1 February at 18.11 UTC (7.11pm on the Spanish mainland), but no one knows for sure how bright it will be. It was last seen about 50,000 years ago. But it may never come back.

"Right now, you need good binoculars or a small telescope to see the comet, but it might be possible to see it with the naked eye," said Sarah Rugheimer, an associate professor at the Allan I. Carswell Chair for Public Understanding of Astronomy at York University in Toronto. "It will also depend on the light pollution in your area and whether we have clear or cloudy skies."

NASA said that "it should be visible with a telescope and probably with binoculars" and observers in the northern hemisphere will find the comet in the night sky, before dawn, as it moves rapidly northwest during January. And it will become visible in the southern hemisphere early February.

This comet is not expected to be the spectacle that Comet Neowise was in 2020, but it remains an incredible opportunity to make a personal connection with an icy visitor from the outer solar system.

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