Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Draco (Dra)
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C2022E3 - The Green Comet, Alessandro Cavallaro
C2022E3 - The Green Comet
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C2022E3 - The Green Comet

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C2022E3 - The Green Comet, Alessandro Cavallaro
C2022E3 - The Green Comet
Powered byPixInsight

C2022E3 - The Green Comet

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Description

C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is a non-periodic comet from the Oort cloud that was discovered by the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) on 2 March 2022. The comet has a bright green glow around its nucleus, due to the effect of sunlight on diatomic carbon and cyanogen. The comet's systematic designation starts with C to indicate that it is not a periodic comet, and "2022 E3" means that it was the third comet to be discovered in the first half of March 2022.The comet nucleus was estimated to be about a kilometer in size, rotating every 8.5 to 8.7 hours. Its tails of dust and gas extended for millions of kilometers and, during January 2023, an anti-tail was also visible.The comet reached its perihelion on 12 January 2023, at a distance of 1.11 AU (166 million km; 103 million mi), and the closest approach to Earth was on 1 February 2023, at a distance of 0.28 AU (42 million km; 26 million mi). The comet reached magnitude 5 and was visible with the naked eye under moonless dark skies.

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C2022E3 - The Green Comet, Alessandro Cavallaro