Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Camelopardalis (Cam)  ·  Contains:  Solar system body or event
C/2022 E3 (ZTF) February 2nd and 3rd 2023, Emanuele La Barbera
C/2022 E3 (ZTF) February 2nd and 3rd 2023
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C/2022 E3 (ZTF) February 2nd and 3rd 2023

C/2022 E3 (ZTF) February 2nd and 3rd 2023, Emanuele La Barbera
C/2022 E3 (ZTF) February 2nd and 3rd 2023
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C/2022 E3 (ZTF) February 2nd and 3rd 2023

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Description

C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is a long-period comet (period longer than 200 years) that was discovered on March 2nd, 2022 during the Zwicky Transient Facility, an astronomical observational survey of the Palomar observatory.
The comet reached its closest distance from Earth, equal to 0.28 astronomical units (about 42 million km), on February 1st, 2023, making it visible to the naked eye.
The orbital period of the comet is about 50,000 years and that its last perihelion was when Neanderthal man existed on Earth, so C/2022 E3 (ZTF) has get the nickname "Neanderthal comet" from the mass media. .
A peculiar feature of this comet is the strong green cast around the head, that is attributable to the presence of diatomic carbon produced by the photolysis of organic materials present in the nucleus of the comet.
This image was taken during the night between February 2, 2023 and February 3, 2023.

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