A long-period comet that hasn’t been near Earth for 50,000 years is now visible with the naked eye.
The comet known as C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is a dazzling green color chiefly because of the presence of the gaseous inorganic chemical diatomic carbon.
It’s arriving after a long journey from the Oort cloud, an enormous disc of objects that surrounds our solar system stretching out 3.2 light years.
ZTF was discovered by astronomers Frank Masci and Bryce Bolin using the Zwicky Transient Facility on March 2 last year.
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It will graze past the Earth close to the north celestial pole at a distance of about 26 million miles on February 1 this year.
As well as the stunning green color, the comet has a yellow dust tail and faint ion tail.
It is getting brighter as it approaches the Earth and was first able to be seen by the naked eye on January 16.
You can find the location of the comet by using theskylive.com and setting the default as your home city.
