For the first time since the Stone Age, a green comet will flash through the sky in 2023

 By Eric Henrikson

January 15, 2023

                                       Texas's Austin (KXAN) — Skywatchers will be treated to a once-in-a-civilization spectacle this month as the green comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) approaches the planet.

According to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the comet, which last traversed our solar system a little more than 50,000 years ago, reached its perihelion on January 12 when it was just 100 million miles from the sun.

The comet will only be 26 million miles away from Earth on February 2. It hasn't been this close since the Upper Paleolithic period, when it is thought that Homo sapiens first migrated from Africa to Asia and Europe.

To put that in perspective, the last time the comet went by, Neanderthals were still roaming the planet.

What will the E3 comet look like?

NASA claims that it is challenging to anticipate a comet's brightness. According to NASA, if it keeps becoming brighter, it should be visible to the unaided eye. It will also be a really vivid green.

According to NASA, the comet will be visible in the Northern Hemisphere in the mornings in the northwest. It will descend below the horizon in February and emerge into view in the Southern Hemisphere.

A telescope or a pair of binoculars will be your best chance even if you can see the comet with your unaided eye.

How did the E3 comet get found?

The E3 comet was found in March 2022 at the Zwicky Transient Facility by astronomers Bryce Bolin and Frank Masci. Space.com reports that at first, asteroid theory was held.

It became brighter as it approached the sun. Comets discharge gas and dust from underneath their surface when they are heated by the sun. These gases reflect sunlight, giving it the appearance of tails.

The comet was given the designation ZTF in honour of the year and location of its discovery (2022). It was given the letter E, the fifth letter of the alphabet, since it was found in the first half of March, or the fifth "half-month" of the year. Finally, it was the third object that half-month that was found, therefore "E3."

What were humans doing the last time C/2022 E3 passed by?

Data from NASA's JPL show that it has been 18,930,412 days since the comet last completed its orbit. Stone tools were used at that time by Neanderthals and Homo erectus, an ancestor of modern humans.

It was thought that certain towns had been located in valleys. The fish hook and rope were also created, as well as the first bladed weaponry.