Newly discovered comet may be visible to naked eye this month

A comet discovered in 2022 that has not been in the neighborhood for 50,000 years could get baked enough by the sun this week as it approaches its closest path by the Earth to be seen by the naked eye this month.

The ball of ice known as Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) will make its closest approach to the sun on Thursday, but is already visible in the Northern Hemisphere in the predawn skies with the use of a telescope or binoculars, according to NASA.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/TNS

This image shows the path of Comet C/2022 E3 ZTF for the Northern Hemisphere in January 2023.

As comets get closer to the sun, their dust tails can grow larger and brighter in the sky. The comet, which has a bright green core with a short, broad dust tail and long ion tail, was captured by astronomy photographer Dan Bartlett in December. It will come within about 100 million miles of the sun, according to in-the-sky.org.

It was first discovered in March 2022 by astronomers using the wide-field survey camera at the Zwicky Transient Facility at the Palomar Observatory in California. At the time it was already inside the orbit of Jupiter, according to NASA. It will make its closest approach to Earth on Feb. 2, with its brightest presence, passing by just over 26 million miles away.

“Comets are notoriously unpredictable, but if this one continues its current trend in brightness, it’ll be easy to spot with binoculars, and it’s just possible it could become visible to the unaided eye under dark skies,” according to Preston Dyches with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Visibility could improve further from mid- to late January with the diminishing new moon on Jan. 21. Look to the northwest as it moves through the constellations of the Big Dipper and Little Dipper. This week, it could be located about halfway between the two bright night sky stars of Arcturus and Vega.

The comet’s visibility will switch to the Southern Hemisphere in early February.

JPL calculates the comet has not been this close to Earth for 50,000 years, which was in the middle of the last ice age.