A comet is flying towards Earth, which was last seen by Neanderthals 50,000 years ago

Central Asia (CA) – In the coming months, an object last seen by Neanderthals could be spotted in the sky. We are talking about comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF), discovered on March 2, 2022 by astronomers at the Zwicky Transient Facility.

Little valued scientists, this comet makes a complete revolution around the Sun every 50 thousand years, which means that the last time it was observed from Earth was during the Upper Paleolithic, when people were just starting to settle in Asia and Europe .

The comet is currently at a distance of 188 million km from Earth. On January 1, 2023, it made its closest approach to the Sun. However, it will be possible to observe it with the naked eye somewhere between late January and early February 2023.

C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is now approaching perihelion, which it will reach on January 12. And closer to the Earth, at perigee, it will be February 1st. Around this point, the comet will be visible to the unaided eye, although Sky at Night indicates that it will most likely appear as a speck of chalk dust on a blackboard rather than a glaring bright spot.

Scientists recently took the first detailed photograph of the comet, showing a brighter greenish coma and yellowish dust tail. Although the comet is still too faint to be seen without a telescope, it will soon be visible to the unaided eye as it approaches Earth at a distance of about 41.8 million km.

C/2022 E3 (ZTF) was originally thought to be an asteroid. It was discovered using a telescope only 1.2 meters high.

E3 will be the first comet visible to the naked eye (greater than magnitude 6) since comet NEOWISE in July 2020.