#LIGHT CURVE OF #COMET ZTF: Soon, Comet ZTF (C/2022 E3) may be visible to the #naked #eye. Bum-Suk Yeom of Iksan, South Korea, created this light curve showing how the comet's brightness is rapidly increasing:

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The comet is brightening because it is approaching #Earth. Closest approach: 0.28 AU on Feb. 1, 2023. By that time, it will glow like a 5th magnitude star, a naked-eye smudge from dark-sky sites.

The comet is already an easy target for backyard telescopes. Yeom's own photo of the comet is inset in the plot, above. He took it using a 3.5-inch refracting telescope. Currently, the comet is glowing like an 8th magnitude star in the constellation Corona Borealis.

https://spaceweather.com/

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