A green comet has passed Earth for the first time in 50,000 years. The comet, C/2022 EF(ZTF) , was discovered by astronomers almost a year ago. It turned around the sun two weeks ago and passed the earth at a distance of about 26 million miles (42 million km).
The core of the comet is about 1 km wide and its tail extends for millions of miles. It gets its green colour from the carbon in the gas cloud it produces. Comets are pieces of rock, ice, and dust that are left over from the creation of the solar system.
The comet could be seen as a bright green dot with telescopes and even with the naked eye. It is brighter than other comets because it is closer to earth.
The green comet originated in the outer part of our solar system and moves in an elliptical orbit around the sun. Because of the gravitational pull of other planets, comets can change their paths so that C/2022 EF(ZTF) may not come back at all.
Image : Edu INAF, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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