January Night Sky

A little over a week ago I posited the notion that 2023 was going to be a breakout year.  As further evidence of this is the visitation of a comet discovered in early March of 2022.  

A comet that might be bright enough to view with the naked eye!

Named C/2022 E3 (ZTF) this comet is presently passing thru the inner solar system.  It will make its closest approach to the sun (called perihelion) on Thursday, January 12 before a slingshot pass of planet earth with its closest pass (called perigee) on February 1 and 2. It is estimated that C/2022 E3 may brighten to magnitude 6.0 (slightly brighter than the stars of the Big Dipper) making it the first naked-eye comet since NEOWISE crossed our night skies in July, 2020. Even if this icy visitor begins to fade it should still be visible with binoculars or a telescope during its close approach.

According to NASA those of us in the Northern Hemisphere will be able to spot the comet in the morning sky as it travels in a northwest direction this month.  The new moon on January 21 will bring very dark skies and if the skies are clear viewing conditions are optimized.  Look in the northern sky for the comet in the constellation Camelopardalis during its close approach.

The people at NASA suggest that this comet may have a period of 50,000 years (give or take).  The last time it was this close it is possible that our distant cousins alive during the last glaciation (Upper Paleolithic period) may have been the last humans to witness this event.

Speaking for myself I don't expect to be around when C/2022 E3 next returns so I'm going to make an effort to observe the spectacle.

More about this event and the rest of January's night skies here...