Eddie Gonzales Jr. – AncientPages.com – The last time comet named C/2022 E3 (ZTF) was spotted was during the Upper Paleolithic period. Our distant relatives, the Neanderthals, watched the comet pᴀss the Earth, but they wouldn’t have known what C/2022 E3 (ZTF) was.

Maybe the early homo sapiens alive during the last glacial period or the “Ice Age” did not even bother to look up when the comet pᴀssed over their heads. Maybe they did not notice it, or perhaps it frightened them. We can only guess their reaction, but the green comet with a diameter of around a kilometer will again be visible when it approaches the Sun on January 12 and then pᴀsses its closest to Earth on February 2.

An image of the Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) taken by astropH๏τographer Hisayoshi Sato as seen in a still image from a NASA video. (Image credit: Hisayoshi Sato via NASA/JPL-Caltech)

It’s been 18,930,412 days since the comet last completed its orbit, according to data released by NASA’s JPL.

C/2022 E3 (ZTF) was first sighted in March last year when it was already inside the orbit of Jupiter.

“Initially appearing to be an asteroid, C/2022 E3 (ZTF) which was inside the orbit of Jupiter at the time, soon began to brighten as comets do. At the time of its discovery, C/2022 E3 (ZTF) had a magnitude of 17.3, brightening to a magnitude 10 in November, and expected to eventually reach magnitude 6,” Space.com reports.

According to Thomas Prince, a physics professor at the California Insтιтute of Technology who works at the Zwicky Transient Facility, the comet “will be brightest when it is closest to the Earth.”

Observers in the Northern Hemisphere will see C/2022 E3 (ZTF) the last week of January when the comet pᴀsses between the Ursa Minor and Ursa Major constellations.

It will be easy to spot with a good pair of binoculars and likely even with the naked eye, provided the sky is not too illuminated by city lights or the Moon.

“We could also get a nice surprise, and the object could be twice as bright as expected,” Nicolas Biver, an astrophysicist at the Paris Observatory, told the AFP.

Credit: Adobe Stock – Kovalenko I

Biver explained the comet was believed to have come from the Oort Cloud, a theorized vast sphere surrounding the Solar System that is home to mysterious icy objects. It’s a rare visitor, and its next visit is not expected for another 50,000 years, if at all.

According to Biver,  there is a possibility that after this visit the comet will be “permanently ejected from the Solar System.” Maybe this is the last time C/2022 E3 (ZTF) pᴀsses our planet.

If you want to share a memory with the late Neanderthals, try and catch a glimpse of C/2022 E3 (ZTF) in the coming days.

Written by Eddie Gonzales Jr. – AncientPages.com – MessageToEagle.com Staff