Bhubaneswar: A newly discovered comet spotted for the first time in 50,000 years is set to provide a celestial treat to astronomers and sky gazers in Odisha for around four days.
Named C/2022 E3, the comet was last seen in the ice age and is likely to be visible to the naked eye in Odisha as well as several other parts of the country till February 2 from Monday, according to sources.
The newly found comet has already been seen by scientists since last year with the help of binoculars. It will now be visible to the naked eye.
Stating that comets are crores of kilometres away from Pluto and revolve around the Sun, Deputy Director of Pathani Samanta Planetarium Subhendu Pattnaik said these are much smaller than the moon and have no light of their own.
People will get a rare opportunity to watch the comet’s fly-by at around 7.30 pm on Monday. It can be seen at about 20 degree altitude in north-east direction, right between Saptarshi Mandal (great bear) and Pole star, he said.
The comet that takes 50,000 years to revolve around the sun will make its closest approach to Earth at a distance of about 4.2 billion km on February 1.
In the following days, the comet will appear about 5 degrees higher than the previous day at the same time and will take five to 10 minute less time to set than the previous day.
As the comet moves away from the sun, its brightness will decrease and it will not be possible to be watched with the naked eye after February 3.
Star gazers have already watched the comet in the night sky in some parts of the state with general telescopes and binoculars. Some staff of the planetarium have also spotted the comet on January 22 and 23 through binoculars.
Pattnaik said the comet will appear to the naked eye as a star with a very small tail like a hazy cloud attached to it. “It can be best watched on the city outskirts and can be hardly detected by the naked eye in city areas due to high light pollution,” he added.
