The Virtual Telescope (VTP)—a service provided by the Bellatrix Astronomical Observatory in Ceccano, Italy, that operates and provides access to robotic, remotely operated telescopes—is hosting a live stream that will show the comet speeding through space.
The live feed starts at 11 p.m. Eastern Time or 8 p.m. Pacific Time on Friday, January 13, and will be provided by the VTP’s “most advanced” robotic unit, astronomer and project director Gianluca Masi told Newsweek.
The online event was originally scheduled for 24 hours earlier but cloudy weather in the area forced a postponement.
Comets are astronomical objects made up of frozen gases, dust and rock that orbit the sun. Sometimes referred to as “cosmic snowballs,” these objects are blasted with increasing amounts of radiation as they approach our star, releasing gases and debris.
This process forms a glowing atmosphere around the comet, known as a coma—which in the case of C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is green—and two vast tails of gas and dust. The gas tail is sometimes referred to as the “ion” or “plasma” tail because it consists of charged particles.
“As the comet approaches the sun and warms up, chemical compounds will turn from solids into gases. These gases are then energized by ultraviolet light from the sun,” Jessica Lee, an astronomer with the Royal Observatory Greenwich in the U.K., told Newsweek. “Different chemicals will glow different colors—this green coloration comes from carbon compounds.”
“[The green coloration] isn’t unusual. Comets aren’t just made of water ice, but other compounds as well—for example carbon dioxide, ammonia and methane have all been detected in comets,” she said.
Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) was discovered in March 2022 by the Zwicky Transient Facility, an astronomical survey conducted by California’s Palomar Observatory. It is currently located more than 63 million miles from Earth.
On Thursday, the comet reached its perihelion—the point in the orbit of an astronomical object at which it is closest to the sun—and it is scheduled to make a close approach to Earth on February 1, when it will come within 26 million miles of our planet.
Predictions indicate that the comet, which may never return to the inner solar system, could soon be faintly visible to the naked eye under ideal conditions if current trends continue.
Predicting the brightness of comets is a notoriously difficult business though and even if C/2022 E3 (ZTF) does reach the accepted brightness threshold for being visible to the naked eye, local factors in a given location, such as levels of light pollution and weather conditions, could play a role in whether or not you will be able to spot the object.
The comet is currently visible through telescopes and binoculars in the constellation Corona Borealis.
