A rare green comet is passing through our solar system for the first time in 50,000 years, and over the weekend, bay area Stargazers might have the best chance of spotting it in the night sky.
Nicknamed C/2022 E3 (ZTF), the comet was the first discovered in orbit of Jupiter last March by astronomers Frank Masci and Bryce Bolin at the Palomar Observatory in San Diego County, and was named after the Zwicky Transient Facility where it was identified. The comet made its closest approach to the sun on January 1. 12, and is now on a path that will bring it closest to Earth, some 27 million miles away, on February 1. 2.
Paul Lynam, an astronomer at the Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton, told SFGATE that it’s unlikely anyone in the Bay Area would be able to see the comet with the naked eye due to light pollution, so a backyard telescope, or ideally, a small pair of binoculars, which offer a wider field of view, will come in handy.
Lynam witnessed the comet from the observatory around 9:00 p.m. Wednesday night and recommends that people look for it by scanning the northeastern night sky between Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.
“What I noticed with a cheap pair of binoculars was an extended, diffuse object that was more spread out than a star and a bit brighter,” he said. “It looked like a lady’s fan that was open at an angle slightly less than 90 degrees.”
If you can’t see it right away, don’t give up.
“Comets are already known to change their appearance quite rapidly from one night to the next,” Lynam said. “If you can see it, you can recognize that it’s moving relative to the stars in the background, and if you’re lucky, you can see the morphology – the shape and structure of the tail.”
Gerald McKeegan, an astronomer at the Chabot Space & Science Center in Oakland, said the comet may even appear to have two tails, one made of gas and one made of particles. He believes there is still a chance that observers “in very dark sky locations away from city lights” could see it without visual aids between now and early February. After that, the comet will remain in the night sky, but it will become increasingly difficult to see from the US as it moves over the southern hemisphere.
Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) in the sky over Molfetta, Italy, before dawn around 6 am on January 2. January 24, 2023. It passed the Earth for the last time 50,000 years ago, when Neanderthals still lived in our latitudes. The comet was discovered in early March 2022 and was initially thought to be an asteroid.
NurPhoto via Getty ImagesDespite its name, observers should not expect the green comet to streak across the sky in a vibrant shade of clover, David Prosper, night sky network manager for the Astronomical Society of the Pacific in San Francisco, told SFGATE.
“The fun part is that even though it’s called the green comet, the color isn’t really noticeable unless you magnify it well,” said Prosper, who is also an administrator for NASA’s Night Sky Network. “People seem to report a definite green color when looking at it through telescopes 6 inches in diameter or larger, but everyone’s eyes are different. The photos easily show the color green.”
Unfortunately, there are a number of factors at play that could affect the visibility of the comet. Prosper told SFGATE that the moon is expected to get increasingly brighter over the next week, and Dalton Behringer, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said scattered and broken stratus clouds, as well as the possibility of rain, may hinder to observers on Saturday and Sunday night.
“If people are really trying to see it, it could go to higher ground and break through cloud cover,” Behringer said.
That being said, Thursday and Friday nights might be your best bet. Later this weekend, stargazers may have better luck heading to the Chabot Space & Science Center, which plans to host free telescope viewing from 7:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday nights. and again on February 2. 3 and 4. Amateur astronomers from San Francisco plan to host a public star party this Saturday from 6 to 10 pm at the Presidio Parade Grounds.
Lynam and McKeegan also suggested looking towards Jupiter, which will appear as one of the brightest lights in the western sky; you can even catch a glimpse of the four moons circling the planet if you have a pair of binoculars. Mars will also be visible, emitting a bright orange or red light.
Regardless of what you may find among the stars, it is worth looking up, as the comet’s orbit is unpredictable and it could be thousands of years before it returns, if ever.
“We cannot say definitively what the comet’s orbit will be. It could appear once and be kicked out of our solar system entirely,” Lynam said. “It could take thousands of years, or it may never come back.”
