Stargazers beware! In the night of Wednesday, February 1 to Thursday, February 2, a special green comet can be seen above Zoetermeer. This comet with the name C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is then the closest to the earth.
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Good to know: the comet is only clearly visible with binoculars or a telescope. The weather conditions must also cooperate.
Gold tail
Under perfect weather conditions, the comet should also be visible to the naked eye. You don’t get a really sharp image, but a vague greenish dot can be observed. If you have binoculars at hand and the sky is clear, you can clearly see the green comet with a gold-colored tail. If you are going to watch this natural phenomenon, it is best to do so in or near the Zoetermeerse Plas or another place where it is dark.
A comet consists of ice, gas and dust. C/2022 E3 (ZTF) orbits the sun and heats up as it approaches it. Then pieces of the comet break off and form the tail. The gas cloud surrounding the comet can be 100,000 to 1 million kilometers long. The distance between Zoetermeer and the comet is 43 million kilometers in the night of February 1 to 2.
50,000 years ago
There is another special fact about this comet. It is about 50,000 years ago that this comet was last seen with the naked eye. Back then, Neanderthals were still walking around on the spot where Zoetermeer is now!