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Jan 10, 2023

A green comet will soon be visible from Earth for the first time in 50,000 years

Posted by in categories: climatology, space

Depending on how bright C/2022 E3 (ZTF) becomes, it could even be visible to the naked eye.

Scientists recently discovered a green comet that was last visible in the night sky 50,000 years ago — that’s so long ago that the Earth was in the midst of the Ice Age.

Now, a NASA blog post points out the fact that the comet will make its closest approach to the sun on January 12. It will be close enough to Earth that it may be visible to the naked eye.


NASA / Dan Bartlett.

The comet was discovered on March 2, 2022, by astronomers using the Zwicky Transient Facility’s wide-field survey camera at the Palomar Observatory in San Diego County, California.

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