Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2022 December 24 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. Comet 2022 E3 (ZTF) Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Dan Bartlett Explanation: [5]Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) was discovered by astronomers using the wide-field survey camera at the Zwicky Transient Facility this year in early March. Since then the new [6]long-period comet has brightened substantially and is now sweeping across the northern constellation Corona Borealis in predawn skies. It's still too dim to see without a telescope though. [7]But this fine telescopic image from December 19 does show [8]the comet's brighter greenish coma, short broad dust tail, and long faint ion tail stretching across a 2.5 degree wide field-of-view. [9]On a voyage through the inner Solar System comet 2022 E3 will be [10]at perihelion, its closest to the Sun, in the new year on January 12 and at perigee, its closest to our fair planet, on February 1. The brightness of comets is [11]notoriously unpredictable, but by then C/2022 E3 (ZTF) could become only just visible to the eye in dark night skies. Tomorrow's picture: stars and mittens __________________________________________________________________ [12]< | [13]Archive | [14]Submissions | [15]Index | [16]Search | [17]Calendar | [18]RSS | [19]Education | [20]About APOD | [21]Discuss | [22]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [23]Robert Nemiroff ([24]MTU) & [25]Jerry Bonnell ([26]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [27]Specific rights apply. [28]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [29]ASD at [30]NASA / [31]GSFC, [32]NASA Science Activation & [33]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2212/c2022E3_ZTF_Bartlett.png 3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 4. https://www.astrobin.com/users/h2ologg/ 5. https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/new-comet-might-get-bright-enough-for-binoculars/ 6. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/oort-cloud/overview/ 7. https://www.astrobin.com/57vepp/B/ 8. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/asteroids-comets-and-meteors/comets/in-depth/ 9. https://theskylive.com/c2022e3-info 10. https://in-the-sky.org/news.php?id=20230112_19_100 11. https://i.redd.it/q065n6zy2r401.jpg 12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap221223.html 13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 16. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 21. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=221224 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap221225.html 23. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 24. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 25. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 26. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 28. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 29. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 30. https://www.nasa.gov/ 31. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 32. https://science.nasa.gov/learners 33. http://www.mtu.edu/