Astronomers view "green comet" in closest pass to Earth in 50,000 years

Astronomers observed a rare "green comet" on Wednesday from Greece as it passed over their hilltop observatory, with astronomer Alkisti Bonanos of the National Observatory of Athens saying it was at its brightest that night.

The comet, which had been lurking in the night sky for months, passed by at a distance of about 42.5 million kilometres. The last time it was seen was about 50,000 years ago when Neanderthals still inhabited Eurasia, Ice Age mammals roamed the land and northern Africa was a fertile and rainy place. The comet's greenish hue comes from its chemical composition of diatomic carbon and cyanogen. Bonanos said the comet has a velocity of 57 kilometres per second.

Gianluca Masi, an astronomer from Rome, also observed the comet early Thursday, and shared images of the celestial object from virtually-controlled telescopes in Italy and Spain. While he said the bright moon affected observations, the images still showed the glowing comet as it passed by the Earth.

Photo courtesy: Dan Bartlett

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