Our pale blue planet welcomed a green visitor this month: comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF), which last blazed across our night sky 50,000 years ago – when Neanderthals roamed the Earth – on its long journey from the most distant reaches of the solar system.
Discovered only last March by astronomers in southern California at The Zwicky Transient Facility (hence, the comet’s name), the comet rounded the sun on January 12, and is currently delighting sky-watchers in the northern hemisphere. In Australia, however, the traveller will only be a smudge on the north horizon.
