C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is a long period comet that was discovered by the Zwicky Transient Facility on 2 March 2022.[1] The comet will reach its perihelion on January 12, 2023, at a distance of 1.11 AU (166 million km) and the closest approach to Earth will be on February 1, 2023, at a distance of 0.28 AU (42 million km). The comet is expected to get brighter than magnitude 6 and thus become visible with naked eye.[4]
Discovery | |
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Discovered by | Zwicky Transient Facility |
Discovery date | 2 March 2022[1] |
Orbital characteristics A | |
Observation arc | 298 days |
Aphelion | ≈2800 AU (barycentric epoch 1950)[2] |
Perihelion | 1.112 AU |
Eccentricity | 1.00025 |
Orbital period | ≈50000 yr (inbound)[2] |
Inclination | 109.17° |
Node | 302.55° |
Argument of periapsis | 145.82° |
Earth MOID | 0.221 AU (33.1 million km)[3] |
Jupiter MOID | 1.743 AU (260.7 million km) |
Comet total magnitude (M1) | 9.6 |
Next perihelion | 12 January 2023 |
C/2022 E3 (ZTF) was discovered by the Zwicky Transient Facility on 2 March 2022. Upon discovery the comet had an apparent magnitude of 17.3 and was about 4.3 AU (640 million km) from the Sun. The object was initially identified as an asteroid but subsequent observations revealed it had a very condensed coma, indicating it is a comet.[1][5]
By early November 2022, the comet had brightened to magnitude 10 and was appearing to move slowly in Corona Borealis and Serpens as it moved parallelly to Earth.[6] The comet exhibited a green coma and a yellowish dust tail and a faint ion tail. The comet was visible in early evening and will start being visible in the morning sky by the end of November. After that the comet starts moving northwards, passing Bootes, Draco, and Ursa Minor, reaching about 10 degrees from Polaris.[7]
The comet will reach its perihelion on January 12, 2023, at a distance of 1.11 AU (166 million km) and the closest approach to Earth will be on February 1, 2023, at a distance of 0.28 AU (42 million km). The comet is expected to get brighter than magnitude 6 and thus become visible with naked eye.[4] During its closest approach to Earth it will appear near the north celestial pole[8] and be located within the Camelopardalis constellation.[9] On February 10-11 the comet will pass 1.5 degrees from Mars and on February 13 to 15 will pass in front of Hyades star cluster.[7]
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