By David Fleet
Editor
Brandon Twp. —A local photographer was recently successful in finding the “green comet.”
Brandon Township resident Heath Zietz was on a mission to finally see comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) with an emerald glow.
According to NASA, the rare green comet has been traveling through our solar system for the last month and should pass near Earth early in February. During that time, the comet will be 26 million miles away from the planet, according to NASA.
“It’s a very faint green color smudge,” said Zietz, who used a 105 mm lens F2.8, 4 seconds shutter and ISO 6400. “It’s not as impressive or bright as the Neowise.”
In July 2020, Zietz photographed the Neowise comet over the township that paid a visit after more than 6,800 years.
“Right now it is below Mars,” he said. “The photo also has a plane flying through the lower left, Mars is in the upper right, the comet is almost center of the image.”
“There was no moon that night,” he said. “It was the dark night I was waiting for to get the picture.”
Astronomically, light decreases the signal-to-noise ratio. In other words, similar to fog, the artificial light from cities obscures faint fuzzy nebulae, galaxies, and even the stars that should be seen in the night sky, according to NASA.