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Wednesday, February 1, 2023

Reminder: "Look up tonight! Incredibly rare green comet will zip past Earth"

The Daily Mail reminds us to "Look up tonight! Incredibly rare green comet will zip past Earth."

    An incredibly rare green comet will zip past Earth tonight for the first time since the age of the Neanderthals 50,000 years ago.

    Comet C/2022 E3 will fling past our planet at a distance of about 26.4 million miles (42.5 million km). 

    Stargazers will be able to tell the difference between the comet and surrounding stars as it will have a streaking trail of dust following it.

The article notes that "On Monday, the comet appeared between the Big Dipper and Polaris, the North Star. Today it will appear near the constellation Camelopardalis, bordered by Ursa Major, the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper." It also notes that "[t]he comet is best viewed after midnight, when it reaches its highest point in the sky."

2 comments:

  1. I'd love to see a once in 50,000 year sight but the problem is, where i live, the sky is always overcast from late November to mid-February. I can count the sunny days and starry nights on my fingers. I haven't seen a comet since 1996.

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    1. I tried looking for it last night, and I believe I was searching in the right location, but between the light pollution and my astigmatism I couldn't discern which light was a star and which was the comet.

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