This week, a rare green comet will pass by Earth.

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Don’t freak out if you look up at the night sky in the next month and see a tiny green light. Aliens haven’t landed. NASA and astronomers say that a rare green comet will pass by Earth this week. It will be visible in the night sky for almost a month.

Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) was found in March of last year. At that time, it was already inside Jupiter’s orbit. It stands out because it glows green.
NASA scientists said that the comet will be at its closest point to the sun, called perihelion, on January 12. This means that people in the Northern Hemisphere will be able to see it. In February, people in the Southern Hemisphere should be able to see the comet.

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NASA wrote on its “What’s Up” blog earlier this month, “Comets are notoriously hard to predict, but if this one keeps getting brighter, it’ll be easy to spot with binoculars, and it’s just possible that it could become visible to the naked eye under dark skies.”

A rare green comet is expected to pass by Earth this week and will be visible in the night sky for nearly a month, according to NASA and astronomers. https://t.co/kQBl0l23Fy

— ABC News (@ABC) January 11, 2023

NASA says that the comet will move to the northwest on the horizon during the month of January, and it will come closest to Earth between February 1 and February 2. Astronomers say that during that time, the comet will be 26 million miles from Earth.

Astronomy charts show that the comet will be close to Mars in about a week.