Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) approaches perihelion.

Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) will reach its perihelion (the closest point on its orbit to the Sun) slightly before 8.55 pm GMT on Thursday 12 January 2023, when it will be approximately 1.11 AU from the Sun (i.e. 1.11 times as far from the Sun as the planet Earth, or 166 391 000 km). At this time the comet is 0.71 AU from the Earth, in the constellation of Corona Borealis, having a magnitude of 9.2, making it visible with a most pairs of binoculars or telescopes. The constellation of Corona Borealis is high in the Northern Hemisphere sky, which means that viewing this comet will be impossible from much of the Southern Hemisphere.

Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) imaged from Payson, Arizona, on 26 December 2022. Chris Schur/Space.com.

Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) was discovered on 2 March 2022 by the Zwicky Transient Facility at the Palomar Observatory. The name C/2022 E3 (ZTF) implies that it is a comet (C/), that it was the third comet (3) discovered in the first half of March 2022 (period 2022 E) and that it was discovered by the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF).

The trajectory of Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF), and its position at 7.00 pm GMT on 12 January 2023. JPL Small Body Database.

Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is a Parabolic Comet, which is to say a comet that was disrupted from an orbit in the Oort Cloud, and is passing through the Inner Solar System on a parabolic orbit that will probably not bring it back again. This parabolic trajectory is tilted at an angle of 109° to the plain of the Solar System.

On 1 February 2023, Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) will reach 0.28 AU (i.e. 28% of the distance between the Earth and the Sun, or 42 471 000 km, which is about the minimum distance between Venus and the Earth when the two planets are closest). At this time the  comet will be in the constellation of Camelopardalis, with a Magnitude of about 5.4, at which point it may be naked-eye visible in clear areas, although still hidden from view in much of the Southern Hemisphere.

The predicted positions of Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) and the Earth on 1 February 2023. JPL Small Body Database.

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