Skywatchers can see a rare green comet with an estimated 50,000 year orbit when Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) comes within 25 million miles of Earth in the coming weeks. As ABC News notes, the comet may be visible to the naked eye during its perihelion–its closest point in orbit to the Sun–January 12th and will increase in brightness as it approaches its nearest point to Earth on February 1st.
The comet gets its unique green glow thanks to diatomic carbon, or dicarbon, in its composition. As the dicarbon burns off due to solar radiation, it emits light in a green range of the spectrum. In the Northern Hemisphere, the comet will be in the northwestern sky through January. The Southern Hemisphere will be able to view C/2022 E3 in early February.
The comet was not spotted by astronomers until it was already within the orbit of Saturn, when scientists at Cal Tech’s Zwicky Transient Facility in California identified it in March 2022. And remember: Republicans want to cut money for science programs like the one searching the skies for comets and asteroids that may be on a collision course with our planet because they believe the Earth is flat and God will protect us… like He did the dinosaurs.