Comet last seen in the Stone Age will soon pass over Kansas City. Here’s how to see it

A comet could be visible with the naked eye in Kansas City in the coming days and weeks. The comet is named C/2022 E3, and it will be the first time this comet will be visible to the naked eye since the Stone Age.

“Comets are always exciting,” Patrick Hess, planetarium manager at The Arvin Gottlieb Planetarium at Union Station said. “Usually we don’t know about them until they get really close.”

Comets are typically big chunks of ice and rocks, and once they pass the sun and begin to melt, they develop a long vibrant tail, which gives them their signature look, Hess explained.

“We don’t see comets within our solar system often,” said Tony Rice, a NASA solar system ambassador. “This represents some of the left overs of the formation of the solar system.”

The comet was identified by a camera at the Zwicky Transient Facility, which is an institution that scans and studies the optical night sky and is a partnership between the U.S. National Science Foundation and multiple universities and institutions.

C/2022 E3 is slated to pass the sun on Jan. 12. Once it starts to melt, it will be easier to see how bright the comet will be and how visible it will be without binoculars.

“The tricky thing about comets is that we don’t know what they look like until they start melting,” Hess said.

Some comets come back regularly, while others can take a really long time before they pass earth again. This comet is special because it will take another 50,000 years before its orbit brings it past Earth again.

When will we be able to see the comet?

Technically, C/2022 E3 is already visible with a telescope, according to Hess. After Jan. 12, the comet should become more visible leading up to on Feb. 1 and 2, when its passage will be closest to the Earth. After Feb. 2, the comet will begin to fade.

Kansas Citians who want to make sure to catch the one-in-a-lifetime event should be able to catch the comet passing by in the early morning sky, while the moon is still dim.

In general the comet will be most visible during times when the sky is dark and not too overpowered by light from the bright new moon.

Where can you spot the comet in the sky?

“This is a pretty lucky comet,” Hess said. “It will be close to the North Star.”

Hess said the North Star will be visible through most of the night, and the comet will likely look like a fuzzy green patch of light somewhere near that star.

Although many predict that it will be visible with the naked eye, Rice said there’s a good chance that people will need to use binoculars to spot the comet in the sky. Either way, Rice said that the comet is something that people really shouldn’t miss.

Comets are pretty rare but the last few years have brought more than usual. The last visible comet was in 2020 and was called Neowise or C/2020 F3. Hess said that comet was barely visible to the naked eye. Rice suspects that it could still be a while before we see another one after C/2022 E3 passes by.

“We really don’t know when the next visible on will be,” Rice said.

The Planetarium at Union Station does not have any set events or telescopes set for the comet, but Hess said observers should check in with the Planetarium’s Facebook page to stay up to date with any events.