Outbound Comet ZTF

Former darling of the northern sky Comet C/2022E3 (ZTF) has faded.

During its closest approach to our fair planet in early February Comet C/2022E3 (ZTF) was a mere 2.3 light-minutes distant. Then known as the green comet, this visitor from the remote Oort Cloud is now nearly 13.3 light-minutes away.

In this deep space image, composed of exposures captured on March 21, the comet still sports a broad, whitish dust tail and greenish tinted coma though. Not far on the sky from Orion’s bright star Rigel, Comet C/2022E3 (ZTF) shares the field of view with faint, dusty nebulae and distant background galaxyies.

The telephoto frame is crowded with Milky Way stars toward the constellation Eridanus.

The influence of Jupiter’s gravity on the comet’s orbit as Comet C/2022E3 (ZTF) headed for the inner solar system, may have set the comet on an outbound journey, never to return.