Watch the green comet again

After Comet C/2022 E3 in February, it’s now the next green-tailed star: Comet C/2023 is currently making its way toward the Sun and can currently be seen in the northeastern sky in the morning.

Heppenheim – Spectators currently have a chance to see a green comet again if the sky is clear. According to the Friends of the Stars Society, Comet C/2023 was only discovered by Japanese amateur astronomer Hideo Nishimura on August 12, and is currently moving towards the sun. Using binoculars or a telephoto camera, C/2023 – also known as Nishimura – can now be observed in the northeast morning sky.

And according to star friends, comets are always good for surprises — and maybe Nishimura will brighten it up even more. The celestial body will reach its closest point to the sun on September 17th. Then it is less than 40 million kilometers away from the star in the center of our solar system. “He’ll probably melt in the process,” says the Friends star.

This past February, the green comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) was spotted in one of its rare encounters with Earth. This celestial body passes over Earth only every 50,000 years. The green color comes from gas heating up near the sun. C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is so named because it was first seen from an observatory in the United States last year as part of the Zwicky Transient Facility program.

Comets come from the far, frozen edge of the solar system, and are celestial bodies that were not consumed in the formation of the planets. According to the German Center for Aerospace Affairs, it consists of dust grains, organic particles, and frozen gases due to its low temperature. The high percentage of volatile matter distinguishes it from asteroids. Sometimes they are pushed out of their original orbit by gravity or collisions and then end up near the sun or the earth. dpa