Will we see the last comet seen by Neanderthals? Astronomers curb their enthusiasm

“Once comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) approaches Earth, it could be visible to the unaided eye in very good conditions as early as the second half of January,” Robert Massey, deputy director of the Royal Astronomical Society in London, told Newsweek. magazine.

According to current estimates, by the time it approaches Earth, it should reach at least sixth magnitude, which is the magnitude that indicates the brightness of an object in the sky. According to Newsweek, sixth magnitude is about the limit at which a space object is visible to the human eye.

Home astronomers want to tame excessive enthusiasm. “We are reluctant to raise our hopes because, as the saying goes, ‘Betting on the brightness of a comet is perhaps worse than betting on a racehorse.’ And it really is,” Pavel Suchan, press officer of the Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences told Novinkám with some exaggeration.

“Even if the prediction is that the comet could reach its brightness between January and February, when it could be at the limit of observability with the eyes, there could be a slower increase in its brightness and it won’t happen, or the other way around, there may be a lot of clearing and it will be visible to the eye sooner,” he added.

The fact that the brightness of comets is very difficult to predict was also underlined by Tania de Sales Marquesová, astronomer at the British Royal Observatory in Greenwich.

However, if current predictions are correct, C/2022 E3 (ZTF) will still be the first comet visible to the naked eye since comet NEOWISE put on a spectacular show in the sky in 2020. However, astronomers expect C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is less impressive.

As it passes in front of the Earth, it will move away from the Sun and the inner Solar System. His next pilgrimage remains somewhat of a mystery.

“We don’t yet have an estimate of how far it will go from Earth – estimates vary – but if it returns, it won’t be for 50,000 years (again),” said another astronomer at the Royal Greenwich Observatory, Jessica Lee.

Although scientists only discovered comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) last March using the Zwicky Transient Facility astronomical project at California’s Palomar Observatory, the object formed along with the rest of the Solar System about 4.6 billions of years ago, according to Lee.

According to The Independent’s website, it was last seen from Earth in the night sky 50,000 years ago during the so-called Ice Age, when our planet was still inhabited by Neanderthals.

At the same time, British media point out that the comet, also known by its shorter name E3, is already visible with telescopes, if the sky is clear. From the second half of January it could therefore be visible even without aid.