Here’s when Houstonians can see a rare bright green comet

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The icy, celestial object will make its closest approach to Earth in early February. 

Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) was discovered by astronomers using the wide-field survey camera at the Zwicky Transient Facility last year in early March.

Dan Bartlett

A newly discovered bright green comet flying past Earth for the first time in 50,000 years will be visible from Houston starting on Friday. Dubbed C/2022 E3 (ZTF), the cosmic snowball from the distant outer solar system was first discovered by astronomers last March using a the wide-field survey camera at the Zwicky Transient Facility in California, when the comet was already inside the orbit of Jupiter. Since then, the icy celestial object has “brightened substantially,” NASA said.

The last time humans spotted the rare comet was during the Upper Paleolithic period, when Neanderthals still roamed Earth. Photos of the C/2022 E3 (ZTF) show its coma, an enveloping cloud of gas and dust, glowing with a greenish hue and a long, faint tail extending from it. On Thursday, the fuzzy, icy visitor made its closest approach to the Sun. It’s expected to be even brighter as it nears Earth in early February, so much so that NASA said it could be visible under dark skies with the naked eye. While the green comet won’t be quite as visible compared to 2020’s NEOWISE comet, it might be the brightest comet of 2023. 

To see the green comet, you’ll likely need binoculars or a telescope, and to head to a rural area to avoid city light pollution. EarthSky, a website dedicated to skywatching and astronomy, recommends Northern Hemisphere observers to look low on the northeastern horizon between midnight and dawn. To snap a picture of the object, EarthSky advises to point a camera toward its approximate location in the sky and take long-exposure photos of 20 to 30 seconds. The technique may reveal a fuzzy, tailed object even is the comet isn’t visible to the naked eye. You can also watch a livestream of the event from home through the Virtual Telescope Project.

From Houston, per the astronomy guide website In the Sky, Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) made its closest approach to the sun on Thursday, at a distance of 1.11 AU. On Feb. 1, the comet will make its closest approach to the Earth and is forecast to reach its brightest point at a distance of 0.28 AU. It will lie at a distance of 1.16 AU from the Sun. Here’s when the comet will be visible in Houston: 

  • Jan. 13: Visible from 2:49 a.m. until 6:15 a.m. 
  • Jan. 15: Visible from 2:31 a.m. until 5:15 a.m. 
  • Jan. 17: Visible from 2:11 a.m. until 6:15 a.m. 
  • Jan. 19: Visible from 1:47 a.m. until 6:15 a.m.
  • Jan. 21: Visible from 1:16 a.m. until 6:14 a.m. 
  • Jan. 23: Visible from 12:32 a.m. until 6:14 a.m. 
  • Jan. 25: Visible from 11:23 p.m. until 6:13 a.m.
  • Jan. 27: Visible from 6:52 p.m. until 6:13 a.m. 
  • Jan. 29: Visible from 6:54 p.m. until 6:12 a.m. 
  • Jan. 31: Visible from 6:56 p.m. until 6:11 a.m. 



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