If you happened to look up at the sky roughly 50,000 years ago, you might have spotted an odd, misshapen green light in the sky. Its origin? A comet, which astronomers now call C/2022 E3 (ZTF). After a lengthy absence from the night sky, C/2022 E3 (ZTF) will soon be making a return visit to our corner of the solar system — and astronomers say you might be able to spot it with the naked eye.
Astronomers first detected C/2022 E3 (ZTF) early last March, when Bryce Bolin and Frank Masci aimed the cannon-shaped Samuel Oschin telescope at its region of the sky. Located at the Zwicky Transient Facility (which is where the comet gets the ZTF in its name; the other parts of its name relate to the time of year it was found) at the Palomar Observatory in Southern California, the Oschin telescope has discovered a few supernovae and dwarf planets, including Eris, the second-largest known dwarf planet in the Solar System.
