Comet visible for the first time in 50,000 years – Austria

A comet can be observed in the night sky these days, which was last visible from Earth in the time of the Neanderthals, as reported in the “Lower Austria Today” program.

Comet C/2022 E3 can be seen to the north between the Big Dipper and Little Dipper. If the weather is good, it is better from Saturday, because there is a new moon and even the comet can be seen with the naked eye. At the beginning of March, it disappeared from our field of vision again for 50,000 years.

Comet C/2022 E3 was discovered on March 2, 2022 at the Zwicky Transit Facility (ZTF) at the Palomar Observatory in California (USA). So far, its evolution has remained within brightness predictions, and online telescope images show the comet’s bright greenish coma, short broad dust tail, and long, faint ion tail.

The orb is expected to reach its maximum brightness at the end of January. “Its brightness is currently evolving better than expected, which looks very good,” Alexander Picard of the Vienna Astronomy Working Group (WAA) told APA.