A rare, green comet not seen in the night sky since the time of the Neanderthals made an appearance in the sky last night.
Many took advantage of the fact that the comet C/2022 E3 could be seen with the naked eye and shared their images on social media.
In the UK, the comet appeared for the first time over Stonehenge. The last time the space rock was visible from Earth was around 50,000 years ago, long before the stone circle was built.
However, Londoners hoping to spot the comet were met with disappointment as cloudy conditions hindered their view.
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People with specialist telescopes and binoculars were rewarded with a better view.
This is how much the comet moved in just 10 minutes tonight. This thing is FLYING. Must be moving close to 100,000mph right now. pic.twitter.com/TWjy8xC0PP
Identified last year, the comet last blazed overhead 50,000 years ago and astronomers say it’ll never be seen above Earth again.
The comet, with its distinctive green coma (the cloud of gas surrounding the icy rock core), passed around the sun in early January and was now on its way back out to space.
People also used apps like SkyPortal and Stellarium that pinpointed C/2022 E3 (ZTF) on a star map.
Using @NightSky to view locate Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) #notsponsored pic.twitter.com/tUt6z5gf5Z
When users hold their phones up to the sky, the map moves relative to the phone’s position so the comet can be easily track down.
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