Officially known as C/2022 E3 (ZTF), the comet orbits the Sun every 50,000 years and is expected to approach our planet on February 1, 2023.
E3 was discovered in March, but scientists recently took the first detailed image to reveal it.
While the comet is too faint to see without a telescope, it should be visible to the unaided eye when it’s about 26 million miles away.
And in early March, astronomers discovered comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) using the Zwicky Transit Facility’s Wide Field Survey Camera.
The comet is currently 117 million miles from Earth and is expected to reach the sun on Jan. 1, orbit it, and make its closest approach to our planet.
E3 will be the first comet seen with the naked eye by NEOWISE in July 2020.
However, NEOWISE has left a long, fuzzy tail and E3 will likely appear as a gray streak in the night sky.
E3 should be visible by January 26, but peaks on February 1.
And this comet isn’t the only cosmic show scheduled for 2023, as it will start the year with the annual quadruple meteor show and end with the impressive Geminid meteor in December.
The Quadrantid is one of the most spectacular meteor showers of the year, and you don’t need specialized equipment to see it.
While the meteor shower technically started today, it will peak on the night of Jan. 3 and the morning of Jan. 4.
However, at the extremes, up to 200 bright stars can be seen per hour, but this depends on ideal conditions and ideal location on Earth.
As the year 2023 draws to a close, the Geminid meteor will light up the sky from December 13-14.
Meteorites are mostly white but can be yellow, green, red or blue.
While most meteor showers are caused by comets, the Geminid meteor shower is unique in that the scene is produced as Earth passes through a trail of debris from an asteroid known as 3200 Phaethon.
Geminids meteor showers were first reported in 1862, but it wasn’t until 1983 that scientists pinpointed the source of 3200 Phaethon.
They are called Geminids because when the Earth passes through the debris, it illuminates the star Castor in the constellation Gemini.
