Green comet: How to see once-in-a-lifetime comet C/2022 E3 from the UK

The Once in a lifetime comet is already visible in the northern hemisphere now with a telescope or good binoculars and should be visible with the naked eye next Wednesday weather permitting.

The Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF), nicknamed “green comet”, was last visible during the Stone Age and won’t be visible again for a staggering 50,000 years.

The comet was discovered within Jupiter’s orbit by astronomers at the Zwicky Transient Facility in California in March 2022.

The Royal Observatory says “Comets are notoriously unpredictable, but if this one continues its current trend in brightness, it’ll be easy to spot with binoculars, and it’s just possible it could become visible to the unaided eye under dark skies,” Preston Dyches from Nasa’s Jet Propulsion.

To find it, before the moon rises, face north and use the labeled stars on the map to help point you to the comet. I hope to use my Nikon and 600mm lens with 2x convertor.

it will look like a white smudge in the sky just north of the Little Dipper constellation. At the moment, it resembles a “fuzzy green ball” due to UV radiation lighting up the gases streaming off the comet’s surface, the Royal Observatory says.

Most astronomy apps can help you track comets, but University of Toronto astrophysicist Hanno Rein created an Apple app especially for locating and tracking Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF).

Andrew McCarhy “Here’s my first effort at capturing the “Green Comet”, Comet c/2022 E3 (ZTF). This was a particular challenge due to humid conditions and clouds, but I’m thrilled I was able to capture it at all!”