Green Comet Tracker: C/2022 E3 (ZTF) Location and Viewing Tips

A green comet is speeding toward the inner solar system—and you can track its progress with a handy tool.

The comet known as C/2022 E3 (ZTF) will soon fly past the Earth, coming as close as around 26 million miles to our planet on February 1, by which point it may just about be visible to the naked eye.

Comets are astronomical objects made up of frozen gases, dust and rock that orbit the sun. Sometimes referred to as "cosmic snowballs," these objects are blasted with increasing amounts of radiation as they approach our star, releasing gases and debris.

This process forms a glowing atmosphere around the comet, known as a coma—which, in the case of C/2022 E3 (ZTF), appears green—and two vast tails of gas and dust.

Once the comet has sped past the Earth, it will exit the inner solar system, perhaps never to return.

If you would like to monitor the movements of the comet, TheSkyLive provides a 3D visualization of the solar system that is updated in real-time.

The visualization shows the orbit of C/2022 E3 (ZTF) with respect to the sun and planets. Using the tool, you can see that the comet is set to pass in between the orbits of Earth and Mars. You can change the time and date to show the comet's location at a given point in the past or future.

The apparent shape of the comet's orbit—which looks like an open curve—indicates that it may never come back to the inner solar system and will simply keep traveling into deep space. But even if it does return, this will not happen for at least 50,000 years, Jessica Lee, an astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich in the U.K., told Newsweek.

Aside from the 3D visualization, TheSkyLive provides a wealth of additional information regarding the current status of the comet on its dedicated page for the object.

For example, the website shows where in the sky the comet is visible—and how its location will change over the coming days. At the moment, the object can be found in the constellation Boötes.

The comet was previously visible in the constellation Corona Borealis, and after Bootes, it will move into the constellation Draco by January 22.

TheSkyLive also tells you where to look if you would like to observe the comet from a given location, as well as its rise and set times—currently around 10:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. respectively for observers in New York City, for example.

Given the magnitude of the comet, it is visible with the help of small binoculars or telescopes. Astronomers expect the object to brighten over the next few days, so it could be faintly visible to the naked eye under ideal conditions. But predicting the brightness of comets is notoriously difficult, and the object might not reach naked-eye brightness.

The website also shows how far away the comet is—the object is now located at a distance of around 55 million miles from Earth.