C/2022 E3, the comet from ‘infinity’, returns after 50,000 years – Editorial

The “green comet” sneaks up on the sun on Thursday before passing near Earth on February 1, where the luckiest people can view it on a clear night.

A visitor from deep space will approach the Sun this Thursday, at a distance of about 160 million km, and will pass near Earth around February 1, before returning to the outer reaches of the solar system. This small celestial body, nicknamed the “green comet” is called C / 2022 E3: it is a comet about 1 km in diameter, discovered in March 2022 by the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) at the Palomar Observatory, California. Barely visible to the naked eye, it was discovered on the night of Wednesday to Thursday, above the Pic du Midi, by François Colas, director of research at the Institute of Celestial Mechanics and Ephemeris (IMCCE), a laboratory located at the Paris Observatory. .

This comet, which our ancestors observed only once, 50,000 years ago, Almost comes from infinity, He explains. It’s a simple clip: We’ll see her for a few months, never to see her again. For a scientist, the interest in studying a star lies in its origin, at the boundaries of time and space: “It goes back to the formation of the solar system, 4.5 billion years ago.” Primitive being Witness to the original formation of the solar system. adds Aurelie Mussi, project manager at the National Center for Space Studies (CNES) who has specialized in comet and asteroid missions for ten years. After the formation of the sun and planets, r