Comet ZTF will pass for the first time in 50 thousand years; When will it be seen in Mexico?
The Comet C2022 E3 (ZTF) which was captured and described by NASAcan be seen as a “shiny beanbag” from Thursday, January 12 to the end of February, according to the researcher of the Institute of Astronomy of the UNAM, Julieta Fierro Gossmanwho also assured that the best time in Mexico to see this object that passes every 50 thousand years It will be on February 2, 2023.
Juliet Fierro Gossman, a well-known Mexican scientific disseminator, assures that “this comet already looks like a fluffy little ball that advances through the Universe, unlike the stars that are always in the same places forming constellations”; however, it will be at the beginning of February when it will be best seen in the night sky.
- The best day to see it will be Thursday, February 2, when it is closest to Earth; the lights of the cities will prevent you from seeing it, so Fierro Gossman suggested looking for a place far from them.
According to earthskyNorthern Hemisphere observers using telescopes and binoculars should look toward the northeast horizon just before midnight for a view from the 12th of Januaryalthough at its closest point to the Land it will be observable early in the evening.
From the perspective of the researcher of the UNAMthese objects “are discovered even if they are very far away because they move with respect to the stars, and this time we can see it with the naked eye in very dark places”. This particular comet was found through the project Zwicky Transient Facility.
What is it and what is known about this object?
baptized as C/2022 E3 (ZTF), East kite it has an orbit around the Sun that passes through the far reaches of the solar system, that’s why it took so long to pass Earth again, according to The Planetary Society. Besides, the POT managed to capture an unprecedented image of this object.
The last time this object passed, humans were beginning to colonize the Land; It will take 50 thousand years for it to be observed again in the stellar neighborhood, since the kites they have very elliptical orbits and although some return every two or five years, others take thousands to do so, or they are gone forever.
“Comets come from very far away, they are in a belt beyond Pluto or a Cloud, which is even further from the Sun. Some of them have been studied and photographs have been taken, and for this reason it is known that they are amorphous bodies, formed from ice and rocks, and have also been captured when they are closer to the sky in evaporation processes”.
Juliet Fierro Gossman
the comet C2022 E3 (ZTF) it is distinguished from stars by its tails of dust and energized particles, as well as the bright green coma that surrounds it. The eat is an envelope that forms around a comet when it passes near the Suncausing your ice to sublime, or turn directly into gas, so it looks blurry in telescopes.
It is worth mentioning that ZTF is a systematic search plan in the northern hemisphere for transient astronomical phenomena of short duration, from seconds to years, using a device with 16 maximum-resolution cameras, which are attached to the telescope samuel oschin in it Palomar Observatoryin San Diego, Calif.
