Currently, the comet is located around 117 million miles from Earth (Picture: Shutterstock)

A comet that only makes an appearance once every 50,000 years, is set to fly past the earth in the coming weeks.

The comet that was last visible when Neanderthals walked the Earth, is expected to be visible from the Earth with the naked eye.

Named C/2022 E3 (ZTF), it was first spotted by the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) on March 2, 2022.

E3 is set to reach its perihelion or closest point to the sun on 12 January, 2023 and its closest approach to the Earth will be on 1 February 2023.

Currently, the comet is located around 117 million miles from Earth.

A comet that only makes an appearance once every 50,000 years, is set to fly past the earth in the coming weeks (Picture: Nasa)

At its closest, it is expected to come within roughly 26 million miles of the earth. That’s equivalent to more than 109 times the average distance between the Earth and the moon.

Astronomers have been following the comet’s progress using telescopes and, more recently, it’s been visible to stargazers with binoculars.

By late January 2023, the comet will be close enough to follow its path in the sky without the need for fancy equipment.

In a recent image shared by Nasa, the comet appears blue-green, with a yellow dust tail. Like all comets, it comprises dust, rock and frozen gases.

It will be the first comet visible to the naked eye since the Neowise comet in July 2020.

While Neowise left a long, misty tail, E3 is likely to appear as a grey smudge in the night sky.

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It only makes an appearance once every 50,000 years.