Community Corner
LI Teen Captures Green Comet Photo Using Telescope, Camera
The 13-year-old photographed a comet last seen during Neanderthal times.
LONG ISLAND, NY — A green comet not seen since the age of the Neanderthals was captured by a Long Island teenager.
Michael Amato, 13, used his RedCat 51 telescope and professional camera to photograph the "dirty snowball."
Astronomers discovered Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) in early March, NASA wrote in a news release. In the months since, the comet has been making its way through the solar system. It hit its closest point to Earth on Wednesday, according to the agency.
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The comet, known as a dirty snowball, came from what's known as the Oort cloud and came within 26 million miles of Earth Wednesday. It sped away after, unlikely to return for millions of years.
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