A rare approach to the strange comet

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A rare approach to the strange comet

On February 1, comet ZTF will approach Earth at a distance of approximately 42 million kilometers (nearly one-third the distance between us and the Sun), before it will likely leave the solar system forever. Credit: European Space Agency

Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) today makes its closest approach to Earth before it likely leaves our solar system for good. Billions of years old and unseen since Neanderthals wandered, the green comet continues to intrigue when it grows an apparent third tail and unexpectedly – but curiously – fails to dazzle scientists when observing it in X-ray light.


Grab your (good) binoculars and, under dark skies, look toward the celestial North Pole over the next few days, for a chance to witness a beautiful piece of space history.

German author Thomas Hartmann wrote in 1606: “All comets do indeed give evidence… of much misfortune, affliction, peril, and danger,” reflecting the fact that for a long time comets were regarded as bad omen. Today, they are proof of a lot, out of date Solar System to life on Earth.

“We know of approximately four thousand ‘home-grown’ comets that formed, like planets, in a swirling cloud of gas and dust that fell in on itself to form our sun,” explains Marco Micheli, an ESA astronomer. object focal point.

“118 of these comets are currently classified as ‘near-Earth comets,’ and they are watched closely because their orbit brings them through Earth’s orbit.”

Made up of dust, rock, and ice, the “dirty snowballs” are the most pristine, untouched thing ever, and have changed very little over billions of years, thus offering a window back into the formation of the solar system. It is also believed that some of the water on Earth originated in the comets that impacted our planet in its early years.

Not only chemical composition They reveal a lot, but only 70 years ago the movement of their tails revealed the presence of the solar wind.

The supersonic solar wind

In the 1950s, inspired by discussions with colleagues about the nature of comet Tails, solar physicist Eugene Parker came up with the idea of ​​a steady wind emanating from the sun.

A rare approach to the strange comet

Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is a comet in the Jupiter family. Its 6.5-year journey around the sun takes it from beyond the orbit of Jupiter at its furthest point, to the closest orbits of Earth and Mars. The comet hails from the Kuiper belt, but gravitational disturbances pushed it toward the sun, where interactions with Jupiter’s gravity brought it into its current orbit. Credit: European Space Agency

At the time of Parker’s discovery, everyone believed that the space between the planets in the solar system was nearly empty. Parker’s idea was very controversial, not only because it meant the sun could run out of mass, but also because his (correct) calculations meant the solar wind would be faster than sound.

In addition to having tails, comets leave a trail of debris particles along their orbit that can extend for millions of kilometers and remain for thousands or even millions of years.

As the Earth orbits the Sun, it often flies across this debris (which asteroids also leave behind), and as matter burns up in our atmosphere, it “falls off,” causing regular meteor showers.

How many tails do you see?

Look closely, and you’ll find that comets have two tails, one made of ionized gas and the other made of dust. When a comet approaches the inner solar system, solar radiation causes the volatiles inside the comet to evaporate into gas and exit the nucleus—the “head” of the comet—carrying the dust away with them.

In the dust tail, large grains scatter sunlight in all directions, some of which is detected by cameras and telescopes on Earth – like the moon and planets.

In the ion tail, the molecules are much smaller but glow through a process called “luminescence”: ionized atoms and molecules in a gas collide with the photons of light they absorb, becoming “excited.” Then they automatically re-emit the photons at another wavelength, in a different color, depending on the molecule.

Comet ZTF’s bright green glow reveals the chemicals it’s made of, with bicarbonate dominating emissions in this part of the visible spectrum.

“The two ends are pointing in slightly different directions because the forces act on the dust and ions in different ways. And while the larger dust particles are pushed around by pressure from the sunlight, the ions are much lighter and electrically charged, so they’re easier to get carried away by the solar wind and it’s magnetic fieldexplains Jorge Amaya of the European Space Agency’s Space Weather Office.

Recently, a strange phenomenon occurred with the comet ZTF where it appears to have a third Tail. This is, in fact, a file Optical error and illusionbecause of our view of the trail of dust.”

A rare approach to the strange comet

Credit: ESA

Disappointment in the plot

Many ESA missions have been observing comet ZTF, even those that didn’t focus on solar system science. XMM-Newton is one of the most powerful X-ray telescopes ever put into orbit.

Scientists had expected it to be one of the brightest comets ever observed, due to its bright green colour. Disappointing at first, but interesting afterward, the comet barely showed up on X-rays. While no stunning images have been produced, the results are very scientifically valuable.

The science will continue, and there’s a chance we’ll see the Comet ZTF again up close and personal, as it’s currently the most promising hypothetical target for the European Space Agency’s Comet Interceptor mission.

Try to see it

During a close approach, Comet ZTF will appear near the north celestial pole, about ten degrees from the bright star Polaris. By the end of this week, Northstar will be over 30 degrees.

Best seen would be through a good pair of binoculars, with which it should appear as a fuzzy, colorless object, (only photographic cameras record its strange green colour. If it is very lucky and under very dark skies, it will be visible to the naked eye.

Comets don’t pass Earth very often, so hunt Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) now, before it leaves our solar system forever.

Introduction of
European Space Agency

the quote: Rare Strange Comet Approach (2023, February 1) Retrieved February 1, 2023 from https://phys.org/news/2023-02-curious-comet-rare-approach.html

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