Green comet spotted above Frankston South, St Kilda
There have been reported sightings of a “spectacular” green comet in the skies above Melbourne’s beachside suburbs, leaving onlookers stunned.
South East
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There have been reported sightings of a rare green comet in the skies above Melbourne, as it makes its closest approach to Earth in 50,000 years.
More than a dozen people reported seeing the comet on Monday night in the skies across Melbourne’s beachside suburbs. including Frankston South, St Kilda and Parkdale.
The comet known as C/2022 E3 (ZTF) is a dazzling green colour chiefly because of the presence of the gaseous inorganic chemical diatomic carbon.
It’s arriving after a long journey from the Oort cloud, an enormous disc of objects that surrounds our solar system stretching out 3.2 light years, and was first able to be seen by the naked eye a couple of weeks ago.
“About 9.25pm in the east, brightest meteor I’ve ever seen. Bright green. Lasted several seconds. I’m stoked. Never seen anything like it!,” Reddit user The Sky is Falling posted.
“Saw it from Frankston South. Looking towards Hastings direction over the planes. Pretty impressive!” user Proof-Chemical2562 said.
“Yep I saw it just now, thought I was going bananas, was in the car facing east from St Kilda. Bright blue/green and lasted maybe 1.5 seconds,” ethereumminor posted.
Reddit user OoieGooie said they saw it while going for a walk in Parkdale.
“Didn’t see green, just a burning fireball. Was huge. Crazy.”
Fellow Reddit user raresaturn spotted several meteors.
“We saw the big green one, then maybe 30 seconds later a yellow/orange one that just looked a fireball that fizzled out (didn’t streak just looked stationary). I think it must have been a meteor shower.”
The comet is getting brighter as it approaches the Earth and was first able to be seen by the naked eye on January 16.
There’s still a chance for stargazers to catch the comet on Wednesday and Thursday.
