Whether or not you believe that Friday the 13th has some kind of mysterious meaning, it will certainly be a special date this month.
A 50,000-year-old comet, cryptically named C/2022 E3 (ZTF) by astrophysicists, will be visible over Switzerland for the first time since the ice age, when it was witnessed (we can assume) only by the homo sapiens and Neanderthals, who shared the planet at the time.
It is now on its way towards the Earth and is expected to whip past us on February 2nd. But we can already watch it on its stellar journey tonight.
When will the comet be visible from Switzerland?
The C/2022 E3 (ZTF), which was discovered in the constellation of the Eagle on March 2nd, 2022, is already visible, though only as a blurry spot at this point, using binoculars or a telescope, and can be watched throughout the night.
However, you can see it best at 5:18 am tomorrow, as the comet will be a mere 160 million kilometres away from the sun — not exactly sufficiently close to touch it, but near enough to see it.
If this comet sounds out of this world, it’s because it is: it comes from the Oort cloud, a sphere formed by small comets that surrounds the solar system.
Where can you watch the comet’s passage?
As the saying goes — the sky is the limit: you can watch it from anywhere in Switzerland.
But you will get the best visibility away from bright lights and pollution, preferably on a dark field or another off-the-beaten path location.
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“green-coloured comet will be visible […] for the first time in human history”
That is a lie: we had one a couple of years ago. For this particular one, it will be the first time in 50.000 years, but you imply that this never happened before, and this is not true, it happens 2-3 times per decade.
Also, it’s not visible for now. Tonight was the closest encounter with the Sun, so it is too close to the Sun to see it. Best time will be on February 1-2, when it will be closest to Earth.