Newly Discovered Comet Set To Fly Past Earth In February: All You Need To Know

The comet, C/2022 E3 (ZTF), will make its closest approach to Earth on February 2, when it is expected to light up the night sky.

A newly discovered comet, which has not been seen in the past 50,000 years, is set to become visible to the naked eye in the coming weeks. The comet, C/2022 E3 (ZTF), will make its closest approach to Earth on February 2, when it is expected to light up the night sky.

According to NASA, the comet was first spotted in March last year by astronomers through the wide-field survey camera at the Zwicky Transient Facility. It was in Jupiter's orbit at the time and has grown brighter since then.

Comets are cosmic snowballs made of frozen gases, rocks, and dust that orbit the Sun. While these celestial bodies are small in size when frozen, they get heated upon coming closer to the Sun and release gases and dust into a large glowing head, which is bigger than most planets.

As per the American space agency, the C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is currently making its way through the inner solar system and may approach our planet in the coming weeks. It will be at perihelion, or closest to the Sun, on January 12. Following this, the comet will fly past Earth on February 2, when it will be at a distance of 26.4 million miles (42.5 million kilometres) from our planet.