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Journalism of Courage
In the past few days, stargazers and space enthusiasts have earnestly camped under the cold skies to catch the glimpse of Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF), popularly named the Green Comet.
On Wednesday (February 1), the comet reached its closest point to the earth’ surface in 50,000 years.
As per Space.com, this comet got its green colour due to its chemical composition which is a result of a collision between carbon-based molecules and sunlight.
The fireball’s proximity to the earth created unique conditions that allowed one to view it through the naked eye, provided the sky was clear and one stayed further from light pollution.
On Wednesday, many people successfully managed to spot the blazing meteoroid. Many were also able to capture it in high quality on special cameras made for astrophotography. Soon, Twitter was brimming with videos and pictures of the green cosmic rock, while many people also lamented about not being able to spot it due to poor weather conditions.
Dr Jacquelyn Gill, who is a paleoecologist and Assistant Professor of climate science at the University of Maine, tweeted, “Tonight, a green comet named C/2022 E3 (Z.T.F.) will be visible in the night sky as it traverses our part of the solar system. The last time this ball of dust and ice passed by, Earth still had mammoths, giant sloths, woolly rhinos, giant wombats, and other ice age beasts.”
Interestingly, controversial actor Kamaal R Khan also tweeted about the comet and wrote, “Green comet will be seen after 50,000 Years. So many humans have come to this world and gone during this time. And it will continue for billions of years.”
