After 50,000 years, a beautiful green comet will arrive over Australia

In really once-in-a-lifetime news, a dazzling green comet, which was last seen on Earth when Neanderthals inhabited the world, will return to our sky in early February 2023.

This bright green comet with two sparkling tails is very old, having travelled through space for tens of thousands of years before finally finding its way into our inner solar system. It was last observed by Earth’s people 50,000 years ago.

The comet, which has been expertly named “C/2022 E3 (ZTF),” has gotten within 160 million kilometres of the sun as of January 13. On February 2, it will reach its closest approach to Earth, coming within a delicious 42 million kilometres of us, making it visible in Sydney, Australia, and the Southern Hemisphere for the first time since prehistoric times.

This comet will shine brilliant green because of its dust and charged particles tail, which sets it apart from stars. The comet’s ice covering rapidly transforms into gas as it passes past the sun, causing the light.

It has taken so long for the comet to swing by Earth again because each time it rounds the sun, it travels more and farther away from the inner solar system. The comet was discovered in March of last year using the wide-field survey camera at the Zwicky Transient Facility in southern California.

This ice huge comet, first seen by scientists in California in March 2022, is claimed to have come all the way from the outer reaches of space and is rapidly brightening as it approaches the sun. Because the comet’s old frozen cover instantly converts to gas as it approaches the sun, long-exposure images provide a crisper image of the comet than binoculars or tiny telescopes, which is why it seems so brilliantly green. Brush the cobwebs off the tripods.

Our whole population in Australia will miss seeing the comet in January (unlike for our Northern brethren). In early February, astronomers say we may see it well in the morning sky with binoculars. In addition, NASA claims that humans may be able to get a glimpse of it with the unaided eye under gloomy skies.

Check the sky occasionally. This ice giant will orbit the sun once every 50,000 years.

Though comets are notoriously unpredictable, NASA reports that this one has been progressively brightening as it approaches the sun and is now easily visible with binoculars.

According to NASA, if we’re very fortunate, we’ll be able to see it with the naked eye in the night sky.