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Those who want to observe comets at home can do so with special equipment
the image is only a reference
A once-in-a-lifetime comet from the outer solar system will come close to Earth for the first time in 50,000 years. Over the next few weeks, UAE residents will have the opportunity to catch a glimpse of it.
Comet 2022 E3 (ZTF) will make its closest approach to Earth on February 1, 2023, at a distance of approximately 26 million miles. It will also be visible until February 5, 2023.
According to Hasan Al Hariri, CEO of Dubai Astronomy Group, the comet’s brightness is difficult to predict. “Even though it’s not bright enough to see with the naked eye, it’s still visible with binoculars and small telescopes around January and early February,” he said.
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Dubai Astronomy Group will host a special ticketing event at the Al Qudra Desert in Dubai on February 4, 2023 from 6.30pm to 9.30pm. It will include telescopic observations of comets, the Moon, Mars, Jupiter and deep space objects, astrophotography sessions, sky mapping and more.
Those who want to observe celestial bodies at home can do so with special equipment. “The best tool for viewing a comet is binoculars,” said Hasan Al Hariri. “It has a wide view of the sky, so it’s easier to catch comets than using a telescope, which has a narrow field of view, which makes locating comets more difficult.”
The image below shows the position of the comet during this time.
comet
Comets are icy bodies of frozen gas, rock and dust left over from the formation of the solar system about 4.6 billion years ago. But as they approach the Sun and heat up, they become mighty cosmic objects, spewing gas and dust in ways that form their signature shapes: glowing cores and flaming tails that can extend for millions of miles.
Comets are named according to how and when they were first observed. This particular comet name encodes this information:
- The letter C indicates that the comet is not periodic (it will only pass through the solar system once, or it may take more than 200 years to orbit the sun);
- 2022 E3 indicates that the comet was discovered in early March 2022, the third such object discovered during the same period.
- ZTF said the discovery was made using telescopes at the Zwicky Transient Facility.
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