Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF): The Green Comet That's Catching Everyone's Eyes!

Good morning!

Tuesday, January 24th 20231 

It's a great day to give you an update regarding the comet that is blazing across the sky as we speak. Of course, that's comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF)! It's a comet that was first discovered on March 2, 2022. It was first captured in images from the Zwicky Transient Facility at the Palomar Observatory in California. Palomar is the famous observatory built by George Ellery Hale who was the person most responsible for the building of Palomar Observatory. A graduate of MIT and a founder of Caltech, in 1928 he secured a grant of $6 million from the Rockefeller Foundation for the fabrication of a 200-inch reflecting telescope. During the 1930s, he assembled a remarkable team of engineers and designers from academia and industry. Under his direction, these people set to work on the mirror, on the mounting, and on the dome and its support facilities on Palomar Mountain. A triumph of innovation, insight, persistence, and precision the telescope was dedicated in June 1948 ten years after Hale's death. This is the Hale Telescope at Palomar Observatory, an instrument that after many decades of service continues to play a leading role in the advancement of astronomy and astrophysics.

Welcome to Palomar Observatory (caltech.edu)

History of Palomar (caltech.edu)

Stellarium Astronomy Software

I am going to recommend everyone download this free astronomy software for your desktop or laptop. There is mobile version, but it is not free. Once you have this downloaded, you can add Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) to the database like this!

1. Go to Configuration (F2)
2. Click ‘Plugins’, select ‘Solar System Editor’, then click on ‘configure’
3. Click ‘Solar System’ and Click “Import orbital elements in MPC format”.
4. Click ‘Online Search’ and search for ‘C/2022 E3’ (Note that the search is case-sensitive)
5. Check the box next to the comet then click ‘Add objects’

You can now search on C/2022 E3 to find its position in your sky and estimated magnitude.

The comet is rapidly reaching perigee, its closest point to Earth, which makes it easier to spot in the night sky. The comet, discovered in March 2022 by astronomers Frank Masci and Bryce Bolin using the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) at the Palomar Observatory in California, has been brightening since November with it's bright green coma and up to three tails. To see the comet for yourself, look to the north just after sunset and look for a faint greenish glow. Under the right dark sky conditions, the comet could be visible to the unaided eye, but binoculars will certainly make the job easier.

Why do comets turn green?

Comets, for example take on a green hue because of the gas tail that forms as they approach the Sun. Most of the gas consists of hydrogen, but other compounds such as cyanide (CN 2) and carbon (C 2) can be contained in the tail as well. These molecules emit light at green wavelengths and can be bright enough to be seen with the naked eye.

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