Image Source: AGENCIES

Date :- 14-01-2023
Watsupptoday Desk

After entering the inner solar system, a rare comet that last visited these parts about 50,000 years ago is set to complete its orbit around the Sun. The comet will reach its closest to Earth on Saturday as it burns up, leaving behind a bright tail glowing in the vacuum of space. Dubbed C/2022 E3 (ZTF), the comet was found in March 2022 when it was inside the orbit of Jupiter. The comet was picked up by a wide-field survey camera at the Zwicky Transient Facility and was initially speculated to be an asteroid. However, as it came close to the sun and warmed up, it began losing the icy material giving it a unique tail. Comets consist mostly of ice coated with dark organic material. They have been referred to as dirty snowballs and may yield important clues about the formation of our solar system. The comet, according to data gathered by telescopes, has a period of around 50,000 years and it last came in the skies above Earth during the Upper Paleolithic period, a time when Neanderthals roamed the planet and early homo sapiens had just come around. India's Himalayan Chandra Telescope, located in Hanle of Ladakh, captured the first images of a newly discovered comet that last arrived in the skies above Earth when Neanderthals roamed the planet. Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) was photographed by astronomers using the Himalayan Chandra Telescope, which is operated by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bengaluru. The comet was traveling through the inner planets on its way to the Sun. The image was captured when the telescope was tracking the fast-moving comet, and the background stars appear to move in a trail.