The green comet is approaching Earth. Here’s how to watch it

This weekend sees a special visitor to our planet’s skies, as a 50,000-year-old comet, called C/2022 E3 ZTF, will pass green in the sky because of the chemicals it’s made of, and will get close enough to the planet that it’s visible with binoculars or a telescope. , and may even be visible to the naked eye.

And you can see that the comet has a bright downward-pointing ion tail as well as a second diffuse dust tail to the left.

The two ends point in slightly different directions because the forces act on the dust and ions in different ways.

While the larger dust particles are pushed back by pressure from sunlight, the ions are much lighter and electrically charged, so they are easier to carry around by the solar wind and its magnetic field, Jorge Amaya of the European Space Agency’s Space Weather Office explains in a statement.

Recently, a strange phenomenon has occurred with comet ZTF, which appears to have a third tail. This is actually an optical illusion due to our view of the dust track,” Digitartlends reported.

And this week will be the last opportunity to observe the comet, so if the skies are clear where you are, you can go out and try to spot it, according to the report.

You’ll have the best chance of seeing the comet if you stay away from light sources such as street lights, and you’ll need to give your eyes 15 to 20 minutes to adjust to the dark – so avoid looking at light sources like your flashlights or phone during this time.

According to the SETI Institute, your best bet for seeing the comet is to use a pair of binoculars and look toward the north celestial pole, near the bright star Polaris.

The best views of the comet will be during the end of this week and into the middle of next week, and it will become much more difficult to see from then on.