An extraordinary green comet that hasn’t appeared in Earth’s night skies since the time of woolly mammoths will make its closest approach Wednesday and Thursday.
This week, the comet could be visible to the unaided eye in areas with minimal light pollution — but experts suggest using a pair of binoculars or a telescope for the best look. Although we’ll be able to see it, don’t be fooled: The comet will pass our planet from 28 million miles away.
The rare comet was discovered by astronomers Bryce Bolin and Frank Masci using what’s called the Zwicky Transient Facility telescope (ZTF) at the Palomar Observatory in California. In a recent interview, Bolin spoke about the comet’s discovery, its rarity and the best ways to view it.
Discovering the comet
It was a little before midnight on the second day of March last year when Bolin hopped on his walking desk and activated a system to detect comets. He took a deep look into space using the Zwicky Transient Facility, an old circus-cannon-shaped telescope that takes hundreds of deep-space pictures per night. This was a nightly ritual, but on this clear-sky night, he would find something that he had never seen before — nor had any other living human.
After hours of analyzing data outputs, the system he created to find comets in images flagged a set of five photos. It noted an 85 percent probability that it had identified a comet.
Even with a system that uses artificial intelligence, Bolin said that it’s him “as a human being that has the final say.”
Still, Bolin wasn’t sure whether it was a comet or an asteroid.
“I wanted to say that it could be a comet, but I am always very careful before I make an official announcement,” he said.
He sent an alert to the Minor Planet Center at the International Astronomical Union and requested a spare telescope to double check. Within days, other observers confirmed that they saw a “coma,” which is a combination of gas and dust formed around the comet’s head, indicating that it was a comet.
“A week later, we announced the discovery of the comet,” Bolin said.
Where will the comet be visible?
Comet E3 from Central Virginia late last night. Beautiful ion tail and anti-tail structure, easily visible in 60" exposures and even wider frames. I can confirm that it is barely naked eye visible!
— Peter Forister ❄️💨❄️ (@forecaster25) January 24, 2023
Stacked photo - 5x 60" 400mm comet detail. #comet c/2022 e3 ZTF pic.twitter.com/lCHTaW5Y0A
On Wednesday, “you can find the comet by looking south of the Big Dipper, near the constellation Camelopardalis,” Bolin said. “If you can find the North Star, you can then trace directly south of that to that.”
The glowing green nucleus and near-nucleus coma of the comet will appear to look “wide” and be “half of the size of a full moon,” according to Bolin.
Of course, where skies are cloudy, viewing the comet will not be possible. During the middle of this week, when the comet will be closest, clear skies will be most prevalent from the Southwest into the Central Rockies and Plains, while cloudy conditions will dominate the South and Mid-Atlantic. In other areas, sky cover will be variable — so check local conditions and forecasts.
Sky watchers don’t have to worry about missing the comet because it will be traveling very slowly. “It will be hard to see it move,” he said.
For the first half of February, the comet will be visible by a “vast majority of the Northern Hemisphere and in the north direction,” according to Bolin.
By Feb. 7 and 8, the glowing green globe will be near Mars.
The comet will then travel south and hover over the equator by the middle of the month, giving people who live near those latitudes a chance to see the spectacle.
Why is the comet green?
The comet is made up of complex carbon chain molecules that are destroyed by the sun’s light and broken down into simpler carbon diatomic molecules. That causes the green aura, Bolin said.
What makes this comet special?
These comets are like “prehistoric relics” because they were formed in the very early history of the solar system, Bolin said. This particular one, Comet C/2022 E3, comes from the outermost reaches of space, Bolin said.
Long-period comets, like this one, first brought organic compounds to Earth when they hit the planet 4 billion years ago. It is because of these comets that “Earth has its abundant life,” Bolin said.
“We know that it has to be kind of like a time capsule of the conditions in the solar system around the time of its birth,” Bolin said. “So it kind of preserves like a record, legacy of the solar system and the kinds of chemical compounds and even the precursors of life.”
How often do we get to see comets on Earth?
“These kinds of comets that come this close or become this bright only come every few years or so, every four or five years,” Bolin said.
Bolin explained that improved technology in the past decade has allowed more comets to be discovered. The last observed comet was Lovejoy, discovered in 2011, he said.
“But since then, there hasn’t been anything like this comet that approaches this level of brightness,” he said.
Other comet discoveries
A year before C/2022 E3 was discovered, Bolin discovered another, on nearly the same date: C/2021 E3.
“The fact that Comet 2022 is named E3 and Comet 2021 is named E3 means that they were around roughly the same calendar date,” Bolin said.
The previous comet was discovered on March 9, 2021, but it didn’t generate a lot of interest in the scientific community because it didn’t come close enough to Earth to be observed.
“It’s like [C/2022 E3’s] less-famous sibling,” Bolin said.
Jason Samenow contributed to this report.