Once-in-a-lifetime chance to see rare comet Wednesday night
CTV
A once in a lifetime event will pass through the sky Wednesday night, as a comet known as C/2022 E3 (ZTF) will be at its closest point to Earth.
A once-in-a-lifetime event will pass through the sky Wednesday night, as a comet known as C/2022 E3 (ZTF) will be at its closest point to Earth.
The comet was first discovered in March by the Zwicky Transient Facility in California. Though according to experts, the kilometre-wide ball of frozen gases, rocks and dust has been on a journey orbiting through the solar system ever since the last time it was visible from earth, more than 50,000 years ago.
"It will be 50,000 years again until it comes by. It actually occurred back when Homo sapiens were replacing Neanderthals in the upper Paleolithic era,” said Orbax, a production specialist with the department of physics at the University of Guelph.
Experts predict C/2022 E3 (ZTF) will be at its brightest locally around 10:20 p.m. Wednesday night.
"It should be close enough to the earth that you’re actually going to be able to see it with the unaided eye,” Orbax said.
The chemical makeup of the comet will cause it to appear as a green streak in the sky.
“This one is a high content of dicarbon molecules which is why it will appear to be green rather than a different colour,” Orbax said.
