Western University to host viewing party for once in a lifetime phenomenon
It may be green in appearance but it isn’t envy that gives this comet its unique colour.
“Comets are usually white or blue. This one has a different colour,” says Paul Wiegert, professor of astronomy at Western University. “It's caused by a molecule which doesn't exist here really on earth. It's called dicarbon, but it can exist out in space. And some comets produce a lot of dicarbon and have this green colour and others don't.”
This comet was discovered in March 2022, and while it orbits the sun like earth, it takes thousands of years to make a single pass.
Comets like this may have been responsible for delivering water to early earth, and contain important clues about the chemistry of star and planet birth, Wiegert explains.
“We sometimes say that it's like a chocolate cake. There's a lot of ingredients that went into this chocolate cake. But the earth doesn't look very much like its ingredients anymore in the same way that a chocolate cake doesn't look like eggs or flour or sugar or anything like that.”
While the comet will be visible with the use of binoculars or small telescopes next week, Western’s Hume Croyn Memorial Observatory is holding a free open house Saturday, Jan. 28 that will reveal a much better image as long as the clouds stay away.
“If the weather does cooperate and we don't have too many clouds, we'll be pointing some telescopes at this comet. Fingers crossed that we get good weather,” says Wiegert
The comet will be most visible on Feb. 1, but will still be visible in the days before and after that point if clouds are persistent.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
Police tangle with students in Texas and California as wave of campus protest against Gaza war grows
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.
Pilot reported fire onboard plane carrying fuel, attempted to return to Fairbanks just before crash
One of the two pilots aboard an airplane carrying fuel reported there was a fire on the airplane shortly before it crashed and burned outside Fairbanks, killing both people on board, a federal aviation official said Wednesday.