There has been plenty of hype about a green comet that is flying through the inner solar system, so what can we expect to see from the Sunshine Coast?
The space rock, tediously named C/2022 E3 (ZTF), was first discovered by astronomers last year.
NASA said it has since brightened as it gets closer and it had a green hue, short dust tail and a long but faint ion tail.
It went past the Sun on January 12 and was expected to be at its closest to Earth – about 42 million kilometres – in the early hours of Thursday morning (February 2). It’s estimated to be the first time in 50,000 years the comet will come this close.
It’s expected to be visible from Australia – for those with a keen eye – next week.
Adjunct professor at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Dr Ken Wishaw, said the hype from some news agencies, astronomy websites and amateur stargazers may be overstated.
But he remained hopeful we could see it.
“There has been a bit of a media beat up on this,” he said.
“(But) we live in hope. At best, it will just be visible to the naked eye.
“You will need a dark sky to see it and preferably at least binoculars.
“Maleny Golf Club or Howell’s Knob lookout in Reeseville would be good dark sites.”
It could be relatively close to Mars on February 11, when Dr Wishaw and members of the Sunshine Coast Chapter of the Brisbane Astronomical Society could use their equipment to see it.
“If the weather looks good, we may have an observing night at Maleny Golf Club,” Dr Wishaw said. “There won’t be a decision until around the 7th of February, which we will post on our Facebook page.”
Comets are are essentially frozen leftovers from the formation of the solar system and composed of dust, rock, and ice.
C/2022 E3 (ZTF) was believed to hail from the Oort Cloud on the edge of the solar system.
Dr Wishaw said the comet’s green tinge was caused by a form of carbon.
“It is due to excitation of an unusual module, which some (people) have called dicarbon,” he said.
Meanwhile, NASA also said the comet could be difficult to see.
“The brightness of comets is notoriously unpredictable, but by then C/2022 E3 (ZTF) could become only just visible to the eye in dark night skies,” the association said on its website.
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