UAE sky to appear green tonight
dubai — A comet lit with a bright green-coloured glow will be visible over the UAE skies on Thursday night and early Friday morning.
The comet, called Comet 21P, produces the glow after the gasses inside the comet starts to emit, which helps display a greencoloured glow around it.
The Dubai Astronomy Group will be holding a ‘Stargazing Party’ tonight until early morning on Friday, where residents can view the comet with telescopes to get a better look at the comet and its glowing green colour.
Hasan Al Hariri, CEO of the Dubai Astronomy Group, told Khaleej Times: “The comet is a dirty snowball — It is a mixture of gasses, water and dust. When it comes near to the sun rays, the heat reaches the surface and the gas escapes and acts as a tail of the comet. There is a dust tail and ion tail with ionised particles which comes from the comet itself.
“The gas coming out of the comet is energised and they start to emit light. There are two elements which contribute to the glow of the comet — a gas called cyanogen and the atomic carbon gasses.”
Al Hariri said that the comet has an approximate orbital period of 6.6 years, meaning that it becomes visible for a period of time and can be viewed by Earthlings.
The comet looks like a “fuzzy ball” and to get a better look at the glow, Hariri suggests residents to use binoculars or telescopes. “If you’re in a quite dark area, you’ll be able to make out the green colour. The best way to look at the comet is to take a photo of the comet by opening the shutter of the camera,” he said.
“It is a low periodic comet. They are roaming around the sun in very short terms. This September, was the nearest approach of the comet towards the Earth. This comet continues to be visible and will continue to be visible. In the month of October, we are anticipating to see the comet before the sunrise. This will be after 3am,” he added.
Another space rock making headlines across the world, is an asteroid shaped eerily like a human skull. Experts have dubbed it as the “death comet”.
However, it is officially known as the asteroid 2015 TB145. It is expected to fly over Earth a few days after Halloween.