Amateur N.S. astronomer captures magic of the green comet

An amateur astronomer from southwestern Nova Scotia has captured a dazzling time-lapse of the green comet that's making a rare pass nearEarth.

The last time the cometwas this close to our planetwas 50,000 years ago. Many Canadians are looking up at the stars this week as the comet gets ready to make itsclosest approach on Wednesday.

Tim Doucette with the Deep Sky Eye Observatory near Yarmouth, N.S., is among them.

He took a two-hour time-lapse of the cometduring the early-morning hoursofJan. 28.

"If you've got a telescope and you look closely at the comet and the background stars, it's travelling relative in our sky about one-quarter degrees per hour," he told CBC Radio's Mainstreet Halifax. "So within a few minutes you can see that the comet's actually making motion in the night sky."

You can listen to Doucette's full interview with host Jeff Douglas here:

Amateur N.S. astronomer captures magic of the green comet

2 years ago

Duration 0:09

Tim Doucette with the Deep Sky Eye Observatory in southwestern Nova Scotia has captured a dazzling time-lapse of the green comet that's making a rare pass near Earth.