When will the Green Comet be visible? Where and when to see and all you need to know

A Green Comet has recently been making headlines this month, which will be visible from Earth for the first time possibly in tens of thousands of years.

In March 2022, NASA astronomers at San Diego’s Zwicky Transient Facility (ZFT) discovered a comet orbiting Jupiter. They named it C/2022 E3 (ZFT). However, due to its green-tinted appearance, it was colloquially dubbed the Green Comet.

Comets are large masses of frozen gasses, rocks, and dust that orbit the sun in elliptical trajectories. As it draws closer to the sun, it heats up and "spews dust and gasses," forming a giant glowing head. Sometimes they form a tail, giving the star its iconic "shooting star" appearance.

The green-hued cosmic object made its closest proximity to the sun on Thursday, January 12, 2023, and is set to make its nearest approach to Earth on February 1, 2023.

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There is no guarantee that the Green Comet will be visible to the naked eye as "comets are notoriously unpredictable"

Jon Giorgini, a senior analyst at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, explained that little is known about the comet. However, the shooting star might have last been visible from Earth a long time ago. In a statement to NPR, he said:

"If C/2022 E3 has ever passed through the solar system before, it would have last been seen in the sky more than 10,000 years ago."

It is challenging to predict how the Green Comet will behave, including how bright it will appear, which is why it is not yet clear if it will be visible to the naked eye. On January's episode of What's Up by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Preston Dyches explained:

"If this one continues its current trend in brightness, it'll be easy to spot with binoculars, and it's just possible it could become visible to the unaided eye under dark skies."

In addition, Jessica Lee of the Royal Observatory Greenwich told Newsweek about the abnormal orbit of C/2022 E3 (ZFT):

"Some predictions suggest that the orbit of this comet is so eccentric it's no longer in an orbit — so it's not going to return at all and will just keep going."

According to Giorgini, scientists have recently begun tracking the Green Comet and there is a lot left to understand about it. It might gain enough energy to fling out of our solar system, but if not, it could go for another elliptical spin around the sun.

Comet C/2022 E3 (ZFT) (Image via Getty Images)

The comet is forecasted to appear brightest between January 31 and February 1, 2023. One should look towards the constellation Camelopardalis (close to the north star) with a small telescope or binoculars a little after sunset to spot the shooting star.

The celestial body's nucleus is surrounded by a cloud of gas and dust which reacts to the sun's radiation, causing energy fluctuations in those gasses. As a result, two gasses, particularly cyanogen and diatomic carbon, give it a greenish haze, thus making the comet appear green to the human eye.

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January 21, 2023, forecasts a new moon providing the ideal skies for viewing the celestial body.