Incredible Hulk? Nah, This Glowing, Green Light in the Night Sky Is a Comet

[Judi Lynn]

By Adam Mann, Live Science Contributor | August 6, 2018 05:03pm ET

A gigantic, green-tinged comet is currently smashing its way through the night sky, leading some people to dub it the "Incredible Hulk comet." Tomorrow (Aug. 7), the celestial object will make its closest approach to Earth, according to Sky and Telescope magazine. This is likely the first time the comet has ever come into the inner solar system.

Officially known by the more drab name of C/2017 S3, the comet was discovered on Dec. 23, 2017, by the PanSTARRS telescopes in Haleakala, Hawaii. The flying, green space rock has already given skywatchers a couple of surprising treats, with bright bursts exploding from its surface twice in close succession — first on June 30, and then again about two weeks later, Sky and Telescope reported. As Hulk himself might say, "Comet flash!"

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Incredible Hulk? Nah, This Glowing, Green Light in the Night Sky Is a Comet
The green glow in the sky is, sadly, not the Incredible Hulk.
Credit: Live Science/Shutterstock
Editor's Note: This story was updated at 8:15 p.m. EDT.

A gigantic, green-tinged comet is currently smashing its way through the night sky, leading some people to dub it the "Incredible Hulk comet." Tomorrow (Aug. 7), the celestial object will make its closest approach to Earth, according to Sky and Telescope magazine. This is likely the first time the comet has ever come into the inner solar system.

Officially known by the more drab name of C/2017 S3, the comet was discovered on Dec. 23, 2017, by the PanSTARRS telescopes in Haleakala, Hawaii. The flying, green space rock has already given skywatchers a couple of surprising treats, with bright bursts exploding from its surface twice in close succession — first on June 30, and then again about two weeks later, Sky and Telescope reported. As Hulk himself might say, "Comet flash!"

Such outbursts are common with comets, though their exact cause is unknown. For many years, scientists thought these outbursts were triggered when a comet left its frigid home out beyond Pluto and plunged toward the sun, heating its surface and creating pressure buildups that led to geyser-like explosions. But up-close observations of Comet 67P by the Rosetta spacecraft have instead suggested that landslides slipping around on the comet's steep-sloped surface kick up dust and other material that flies off into space, Space.com, a Live Science sister site, previously reported. [Danger! Falling Rocks: Meteorites and Asteroids (Infographic)]

Whatever its origin, the second eruption on C/2017 S3 created a huge cloud of gas surrounding the icy object, extending nearly twice the size of Jupiter, to around 161,000 miles (260,000 kilometers) across, according to Austrian amateur astronomer Michael Jäger‎.Its greenish hue is the result of cyanide and carbon molecules being warmed by the sun and becoming ionized, meaning their electrons and protons separate from one another, causing a characteristic glow, Brian Koberlein, an astrophysicist at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, reported on his blog.

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