<<Green comet streaks across the sky in 2023 for first time since Stone Age>>
AUSTIN, Texas (KXAN) — This month, skygazers will be treated to a once-in-a-civilization sight: a green comet named C/2022 E3 (ZTF) approaching Earth.
The comet, which last passed through our solar system a little more than 50,000 years ago, will reach its perihelion (or its closest point to the sun) on Jan. 12, when it will be within 100 million miles of the sun, according to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
On Feb. 2, the comet will only be about 26 million miles from Earth. This is the closest it has passed since the Upper Paleolithic era, an epoch of human history when Homo sapiens are believed to have left Africa and settled in Asia and Europe.
To put it into perspective, Neanderthals still walked the Earth the last time the comet passed over.
https://www.krqe.com/news/national/green-comet-streaks-across-the-sky-in-2023-for-first-time-since-stone-age/