An astrophotographer collected an amazing timelapse video of a green comet that flew through the Solar System last month. The video was made up of 521 images taken over 10 hours. The volume of collected data reached one terabyte.
The comet, officially known as C/2022 E3 (ZTF), was photographed by Miguel Claro from the Dark Sky Alqueva Observatory in Portugal. The observatory’s special location allows it to have an average of 286 clear nights each year.
On January 3, ZTF was at a distance of 146.1 million kilometers. But already on January 31, it approached the minimum distance to our planet, which was 43.1 million kilometers, which allowed us to consider it in more detail. The frame-by-frame video shows key moments of the comet’s activity. Including when the tail detached from it on January 18.
One Month of ZTF — The Green Comet in Motion Revealed in a 4k Time Lapse from Miguel Claro on Vimeo.
“Part of the plasma tail was torn out of the comet’s head, and then carried away by the solar wind. But ZTF did not cease to amaze us and began to form a rare anti–tail, which gradually changed the position of the angle when our planet Earth crossed the plane of its orbit,” Claro explains.
The long-distance traveler was moving rapidly against the background of the starry sky, and Claro also recorded several passing asteroids crossing the field of view, as well as the moment when ZTF crossed several galaxies.
A stunning comet with a long green gas-dust tail already circled the Sun and began to leave the Solar System. Its subsequent return will take place again not earlier than in 50 thousand years.
Earlier we explained why ZTF became a sensation in the right place.
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