Comet ZTF and Mars
Image Credit & Copyright:
Donato Lioce
No, Comet ZTF is not going to hit Mars.
Nicknamed the Green Comet for its bright green coma,
C/2022 E3 (ZTF)
did, however,
pass almost in front of the much-more
distant planet
a few days ago, very near in time to when the featured picture was taken.
The two sky icons were here captured behind a famous Earth icon -- the
Matterhorn, a mountain in the
Italian
Alps with a
picturesque peak.
Both the foreground and background images were taken on the same evening by the same camera and from the same location.
The comet's
white dust tail is visible to the right of the
green coma, while the light
blue ion tail
trails towards the top of the image.
Orange Mars
is well in front of the numerous background stars as well as the dark nebula
Barnard 22 to its lower right.
Although Mars remains
visible
in the evening sky for the next few months,
Comet ZTF has
already begun to fade as it returns to the outer
Solar System.