Your Chance to See a Rare Post-Paleolithic Green Comet This Week

A rare green comet is set to fly past Earth for the first time since Paleolithic times. It will pass by Mars this week and can be seen even with ordinary binoculars. This comet is called C/2022 E3. It will appear as a faint fan-shaped point passing between the orbits of Earth and Mars.

According to EarthSky.org, it will be visible on Friday (February 10) and Saturday (February 11) nights. This will be the last chance to see it from Earth, as it will then speed away at about 1,28,000 miles per hour and take about 50,000 years to revolve around the Sun. This type of comet has two tails. One of these is made of dust and the other of gas. This green comet was discovered in March of last year by astronomers at the Zwicky Transient Facility in California, United States. As it passes close to Mars, people in the Northern Hemisphere must look west after sunset to see it. It can be seen with a simple telescope or a small telescope if it is very light.

LiveScience advises that if this comet is not visible, you should zero in on its location via skywatching websites or stargazing apps. If you live in the southern hemisphere and can’t find your location, you can still see it from the Virtual Telescope Project live stream. Starts February 11 at 6pm EST.

Recently, a team of astronomers has discovered an exoplanet the size of Earth. It is called K2-415b and revolves around an M dwarf star. Its distance from Earth is only 72 light years. According to a report published in the Astronomical Journal, the discovery was made by an international team of astronomers led by Teruyuki Hirano of the Japan Center for Astrobiology. Hirano explains: “Some small planets around the M dwarf are important for the search for rocky planets and any planets with habitable conditions. This is a planet the same size as Earth. It will be an interesting target for future finds.” Astronomers discovered this planet while analyzing data from the Kepler telescope.