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C/2022 E3

C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is a long-period comet from the Oort cloud that was discovered by the Zwicky Transient Facility on 2 March 2022. The object was initially identified as an asteroid, but subsequent observations revealed it had a very condensed coma, indicating it is a comet. The comet has a bright green glow around its nucleus, which is due to the effect of sunlight on its molecules, especially diatomic carbon and cyanogen. The comet's closest approach to Earth was on 1 February 2023, at a distance of 0.28 AU (42 million km; 26 million mi). The comet reached magnitude 5 and is visible with the naked eye under moonless dark skies.

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Uploaded on February 2, 2023
Taken on February 1, 2023