(submitted photo/Tim Yaworski)

By Derek Craddock

ZTF COMET

A comet is passing by earth but will you be able to see it?

Feb 1, 2023 | 8:00 AM

It may not be visible in the night sky, but a comet will pass by earth for the first time in over 50,000 years.

The ZTF Comet was named for the telescope system that discovered it (Zwicky Transient Facility) last March. On Wednesday it will have its closest approach to Earth at over 42 million kilometers.

So, will you be able to see the comet on Wednesday?

“Comets are more visible to closer they are to the sun. What we’re witnessing right now is it’s moving away from the sun,” Tim Yaworski with the Royal Astronomical Society in Saskatchewan said.

“Because it’s already past the sun and moving away, it’s closer to us but far less prominent… For very few people was this a naked-eye comet.”

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He added the comet was visible in some places a couple weeks ago, though you needed to have binoculars or a good telescope to truly see it.

Those who were able to capture it on camera saw the fuzzy comet with a green trail behind it.

“It’s created a lot of stir among astro photographers and astronomers but for the general public, it’s very underwhelming,” Yaworski said.

Nonetheless, the comet has created quite the buzz and astronomers and stargazers alike are happy to follow the path of a comet, we won’t hear about for another 50 millennia.

The last comet to be seen by the public was Neowise which lit up some night skies in the summer of 2020.

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derek.craddock@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @PA_Craddock