Toulouse. This comet is visible in the sky these days: it’s a first for 50,000 years
Through David Saint-Sernin
Published on
It is a spectacle which will be offered to the eyes of the inhabitants of Toulouse and of Occitania these days. Between this Monday and the 1uh February 2023, the comet C/2022 E3 ZTF going to be visible and it’s rare enough to be underlined.
Already passed 50,000 years ago
The last time it passed under our “radars”, it was indeed 50,000 years. In fact, the last representative of our species to have (perhaps) seen it was dressed in furs and hunting mammoths…
Enough to make the passage of this comet an event. And yet, you will have to be persistent and be at least equipped to see this flying object in the sky of Occitania.
Not visible to the naked eye
For a few days, the information broadcast is that the comet will be visible to the naked eye. “That will not be the case, assures however Olivier Tanguy from the Cité de l’Espace. It takes at least binoculars because the comet has reached magnitude 6. This brightness scale is the limit of perception with the naked eye under a sky without light pollution, but without binoculars it will be very difficult to see it, especially if you are a hobbyist”.
To hope to see comet C/2022 E3 ZTF, several conditions must be met:
Where to find
First, get your bearings in the sky. “The landmark will be the Little Dipper. You will have to take the two stars at the other end of the tail of the pan and follow the extension. It is then that a blurry and grayish spot will appear. It will be the comet,” explains Olivier Sanguy.
Avoid light pollution
The second condition to be met will be to be in an environment without light pollution. Seeing the comet from Toulouse will be almost impossible. “It will be necessary to be outside an urban center, light off”, assures Olivier Sanguy.
Wait for the moon to set
The ideal will then be to wait for the current quarter moon to set, i.e. 2:10 am, to be in the best observation conditions, provided that the northern horizon is clear. And finally to have at least binoculars. “For amateurs not used to observing the sky, the ideal will be to get closer to astronomy clubs of the region”, thinks Olivier Sanguy.
Which night to choose?
What nights will the comet be most visible? Hard to say… It’s the 1uh february that it will be closest to the earth, that is to say at 42 million kilometers (the distance between the earth and the sun is 150 million kilometers). “If the magnitude remains the same, it is on this date that the comet will be most visible”. But nothing says that the luminous activity of the comet will not decrease these next days. If that were the case, despite her rapprochement, she would be less and less visible.
It may exit the solar system
Why is the passage of this comet an event? Because we won’t see her again. It could indeed be that she leaves its current orbit to be ejected from the solar system. And if it stayed in that orbit, we wouldn’t see it again for quite a while…
“And it’s not every day that a comet is accessible with amateur instruments”, assures Olivier Sanguy.
Above all, the comet will give scientists information on how the solar system was formed 4.5 billion years ago. “It comes from the Oort cloud which surrounds our solar system and which is a reservoir of comets and especially the terrain of the formation of the solar system”, recalls Olivier Sanguy.
Hale-Bopp, the brightest
As a reminder, the comet that has made the greatest impression over the past forty years is Hale Bopp in 1997. With a magnitude of -1, a brightness much higher than that of C/2022 E3 (ZTF), it offered a splendid spectacle, much higher than that of the next few days.
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