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Rare 91Ƶbig fuzzy green ball91Ƶ comet visible in B.C. skies, a 50,000-year sight

This celestial event happens only once every 50,000 years
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In the night sky, a comet is flying by Earth for the first time in 50,000 years.

Steve Coleopy, of the South Cariboo Astronomy Club, is offering some tips on how to see it before it disappears.

The green-coloured comet, named C/2022 E3 (ZTF), is not readily visible to the naked eye, although someone with good eyesight in really dark skies might be able to see it, he said. The only problem is it91Ƶs getting less visible by the day.

91ƵRight now the comet is the closest to earth and is travelling rapidly away,91Ƶ Coleopy said, noting it is easily seen through binoculars and small telescopes. 91ƵI have not been very successful in taking a picture of it yet, because it91Ƶs so faint, but will keep trying, weather permitting.91Ƶ

At the moment, the comet is located between the bowl of the Big Dipper and the North Star but will be moving toward the Planet Mars - a steady orange-coloured point of light- in the night sky over the next couple of weeks, according to Coleopy.

91ƵI have found it best to view the comet after 3:30 in the morning, after the moon sets,91Ƶ he said. 91ƵIt is still visible in binoculars even with the moon still up, but the view is more washed out because of the moonlight.91Ƶ

He noted the comet looks like a 91Ƶbig fuzzy green ball,91Ƶ as opposed to the bright pinpoint light of the stars.

91ƵThere91Ƶs not much of a tail, but if you can look through the binoculars for a short period of time, enough for your eyes to acclimatize to the image, it91Ƶs quite spectacular.91Ƶ

To know its more precise location on a particular evening, an internet search will produce drawings and pictures of the comet with dates of where and when the comet will be in each daily location.

Coleopy notes the comet will only be visible for a few more weeks, and then it won91Ƶt return for about 50,000 years.



fiona.grisswell@100milefreepress.net

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Fiona Grisswell

About the Author: Fiona Grisswell

I graduated from the Writing and New Media Program at the College of New Caledonia in Prince George in 2004.
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