C/2022 E3 (ZTF): Get to know about ‘Green comet’ of 50,000 years ago

C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is also reffered as Green comet (ZTF) or Neanderthal Comet, was identified by astronomers Bryce Bolin and Frank Masc using a 48-inch Samuel Oschin robotic telescope, by Zwicky Transient Facility on March 2, 2022, in California

Hyderabad: Comet, which has a shinny green glow around its nucleus, a surrounding coma, and an impressive tail, is officially named as C/2022 E3 (ZTF). It is also reffered as Green comet (ZTF) or Neanderthal Comet, which passed by Earth approximately 50,000 years ago when Neanderthals and Homo sapiens roamed together.

The comet was identified by astronomers Bryce Bolin and Frank Masc using a 48-inch Samuel Oschin robotic telescope, by Zwicky Transient Facility on March 2, 2022, in California. Initially, the object was speculated to be an asteroid, but thorough subsequent observations revealed that its cometary characteristics were a comet. The abbreviation C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is explained as C, as the comet, 2022, was the discovery year, and E3 indicates it was the third such object found in early March of that year, and ZTF signifies Zwicky Transient Facility that first detected it.

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A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that warms and begins to release gases when passing close to the Sun, a process called outgassing, usually has a highly eccentric elliptical orbit, and has a wide range of orbital periods, ranging from several years to potentially several million years. The word comet was taken from the Latin words comēta or comētēs.

C/2022 E3 (ZTF)’s orbit type is Long-period, which takes roughly 50,000 years. The comet reached its perihelion on 12 January 2023 and came closest to Earth, about 44 million km away, on February 1, 2023. Comet was visible to the naked eye and with better gaze with the use of a telescope or binoculars. The observation of C/2022 E3 (ZTF) remarks the advances in astronomical technology and marked a rare view of a celestial event that comes many years later.

During its 2023 appearance, the comet’s visibility peaked in late January and early February, as it traveled across the night sky, passing near several recognisable celestial landmarks, which were near the north celestial pole and located within the Camelopardalis constellation. It was believed that it originated from the Oort Cloud, a vast spherical shell of icy bodies surrounding our solar system at distances between 2,000 and 100,000 astronomical units from the Sun.

Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) has an uncertain future due to the complex gravitational interactions in our solar system. However, 2023 could be humanity’s first and last opportunity to observe this particular comet. Its next appearance would likely be 48,998 years later.