• News
  • Film and TV
  • Music
  • Tech
  • Features
  • Celebrity
  • Politics
  • Weird
  • Community
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content
Green comet will be visible from Earth today for first time in 50,000 years

Home> News

Updated 15:09 1 Feb 2023 GMTPublished 09:30 1 Feb 2023 GMT

Green comet will be visible from Earth today for first time in 50,000 years

It's the first time it's passed by for 50,000 years, and it's your only chance to see it

Jake Massey

Jake Massey

A rare green comet is making its closest pass by Earth.

The adorably named C/2022 E3 (ZTF) was last seen around 50,000 years ago and hails from the Oort cloud at the outermost edge of the Solar System.

The icy ball only orbits the sun once every 50,000 years, which means the last time it went past the planet was during the Stone Age – when Neanderthals roamed the Earth.

Honestly, where the hell you been C/2022 E3 (ZTF)? So much has changed.

At its closest point, the green comet will be within approximately 45 million kilometres of us.

Advert

Dr Greg Brown, an astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, told the PA news agency: "Long-period comet C/2022 E3 is currently speeding through the solar system and won’t return for at least 50,000 years, assuming it ever does, so it's your once-in-a-lifetime chance to see it.

"Its path across our sky is taking it through the constellation of Draco the dragon and will be passing between the two bears, Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, in late January and into early February."

The comet photographed from Kent during the early hours.
James Bell / Alamy Stock Photo

C/2022 E3 was first spotted in March 2022, using the Zwicky Transient Facility in California.

Advert

Its green glow is a result of ultraviolet radiation from the sun lighting up the gases surrounding the comet's surface, and it has recently become bright enough to see with the naked eye in areas with minimal light pollution.

Dr Brown said: "While it may yet become possible to see it with the unaided eye from an extremely dark site, you are much better off pointing a pair of binoculars or a small telescope at it.

"For observers in the UK, head out after midnight when the comet will be highest in the sky and try and find the faint greenish light coming from it.

"Easiest to see will be the brighter head of the comet, but, if you are lucky, you may spot one of its two tails sweeping out from it, each made of material being jettisoned from its rapidly warming icy surface."

Advert

It last passed by 50,000 years ago.
James Bell / Alamy Stock Photo

If you're only considering staying up to see some alien-like green glow soaring through space, you should probably give it a miss though.

"You might have seen these reports saying we're going to get this bright green object lighting up the sky," Dr Robert Massey, deputy executive director of the Royal Astronomical Society, told the BBC.

"Sadly, that's not going to be anything like the case."

Advert

But if you are away from light pollution, have clear skies, binoculars and some luck, you might be able to make out a smudge in the sky. A once-in-a-lifetime smudge.

Featured Image Credit: Giulio Ercolani / MasPix / Alamy

Topics: Space, News, NASA

Jake Massey
Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

X

@jakesmassey

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

7 hours ago
9 hours ago
10 hours ago
  • 7 hours ago

    Diddy denied bail after being found guilty on 2 out of 5 counts in sex trafficking and prostitution case

    Diddy has been denied bail after being found guilty on two of five charges he was facing

    News
  • 9 hours ago

    Donald Trump makes shocking threat he wants to deport US citizens and people are stunned

    Donald Trump has made a threat to deport US citizens following the opening of a migrant centre in Florida

    News
  • 10 hours ago

    Bryan Kohberger speaks for first time in court admitting to how he brutally murdered four Idaho students

    The Idaho murder suspect has spoken out following the brutal murders of four students in 2022

    News
  • 10 hours ago

    Former prosecutor explains why Diddy was found not guilty on 3 out of 5 counts in sex trafficking and prostitution case

    A legal expert has shared his thoughts about why Sean 'Diddy' Combs has been found not guilty of three counts

    News
  • Why the longest day on Earth will always be 'today'
  • Experts reveal exact locations where 'city destroying' asteroid could hit Earth seven years from now
  • Chance of devastating 'god of chaos' asteroid hitting Earth could be higher than scientists first thought
  • NASA has officially upgraded chances of 'city-destroying' asteroid hitting Earth seven years from now