The 4 unknown facts of the green comet, the astronomical phenomenon visible once every thousand years

The green comet crosses the sky this Sunday in the southern hemisphere, where the inhabitants of some countries, including Argentina, will be able to see it at this moment in its greatest degree of clarity. Recently discovered, this celestial body undergoes a decomposition processgiving it its signature shimmering color against the deep black of the night sky.

In late January, the green comet became visible from Earth. After ten days in which it was offered as an almost exclusive show for the northern hemisphere, this Sunday it presents itself in its best version for those who live south of the equator.

However, to capture it optimally special tools will be needed. The employment of binoculars or small telescopes It is recommended for those who want to distinguish this almost unprecedented phenomenon with amazing features from the southern hemisphere.

Green comet: the scientific name and why it was nicknamed that

Its official name is C/2022 E3 (ZTF). However, it was popularized as the “green kite” due to the color of the wake-up function which I draw on his way in the firmament with his dust tail and ions.

“Even if the comet it is mostly water iceit is mixed with material from the original nebula when the Solar System formed, and this material is released as it approaches the Sun,” said Argentine astronomer Beatriz García, in dialogue with Télam.

It is often described as a “dirty snowball”. The green hue comes from the carbon in the gas cloud (“coma”) surrounding the core, which melts as it gets closer to the Sun.

This also opens a framework of unpredictability on brightness that you can reach. “Predictions are that it could reach an integrated brightness of magnitude 5, in which case it would be visible because it’s a magnitude that the human eye can detect,” García said in late January.

As it gets closer to the Sun, increases its temperature and its luminosity increases because the ice passes directly into the gaseous state. For now, however, the scientists are sticking to their advice: to ensure a good picture, nothing like the help of astronomical devices.

When was the green comet discovered?

The comet has been discovered in March 2022 by astronomers using the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF), a wide-field camera at Caltech’s Palomar Observatory.

It is an observatory located in San Diego, in the United States, in a point chosen almost a century ago by scientists to inspect the sky. Through its state-of-the-art instruments, it scans the entire sky of the northern hemisphere every two days.

In March 2022, they discovered it when it was in Jupiter’s orbit, about 650 million kilometers from the Sun. “Since then, the new long-period comet has brightened significantly and is now sweeping the northern constellation Corona Borealis in the skies.” before dawn,” NASA said.

During a journey through the inner solar system, the green comet was at perihelion, its closest point to the sun, on January 12. And it found its perigee, the closest point to our planet, on February 1st.

Green comet: its previous passage so close to Earth

Its recent discovery gives the green comet’s current passage its character almost unprecedented. Is that until today it had never been identified among the rest of the celestial bodies.

Also, this celestial body takes approx 50,000 years to orbit the Sunso the last beings to see it, if they could, were the Neanderthals.

“Now it is returning. This means that in the past it had a closed orbit, but now the orbit has changed due to gravitational disturbances. The orbit has become open, which implies that the comet will leave the Solar System forever” Garcia added.

When will it return and what effects will the green comet have on Earth?

This February 1 was at a distance of 42 million kilometers, which is equivalent to 109 times the average distance from the Earth to the Moon. Then she began to move away, probably not to return for millions of years.

In any case, in addition to this Sunday evening, the experts have indicated another date on the calendar: on February 10 it will be near Marswhich gives a good indication to find it in the sky.

The green comet’s passage “has no effect on Earth or the solar system,” Garcia said. “They’re small, interesting objects that draw attention if they can be seen with the naked eye,” she added.

As it passed by the planet it allowed “scientists to do more experiments and people to see a beautiful comet,” said Karen Meech, an astronomer at the University of Hawaii.

For now, it hasn’t matched 2020’s Neowise or Hale Bopp and Hyakutake of the mid-to-late ’90s in brilliance. But, as specialists emphasize, their behavior is unpredictable. Hence also the fascination of looking at the sky.

DS