A rare green comet will zip by Earth this week. Here’s how to see it

It's a bird, it's a plane — nope, it's a green comet!

The fireball's official name is Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) and it will be visible Jan. 12 with binoculars and perhaps even to the naked eye, NASA announced last month.

The comet was first discovered by astronomers last March and since then it "has brightened substantially" and its layered tails have become more visible, NASA said.

The comet will be its closest to the sun on Jan. 12 and, if its trend of brightening continues, it could become more visible to the eye under dark night skies, NASA said.

How to see the green comet

The comet is currently passing through the northern constellation Corona Borealis, according to NASA. People in the Northern Hemisphere will have a chance to see the comet under the dark sky. But when the comet reaches its closest point to Earth on Feb. 1 or 2, it will be visible in the Southern Hemisphere, NASA said.

To see the green comet, look along the horizon between midnight and dawn, recommends EarthSky, a website dedicated to skywatching and astronomy.

To capture a picture of it, point a camera toward its approximate location in the sky and take long-exposure photos of 20 to 30 seconds, according to EarthSky. That technique will photograph a fuzzy, tailed object even if the comet isn't visible to the naked eye.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com