By Bakheet al Shahari
Salalah: Astronomer Awad bin Said al Saadouni, head of the Astronomical Observatory in Dhofar, managed to capture a picture image of the rare comet Atlas from the Duka Frankincense Tree Reserve in the Najd region in Dhofar Governorate. The comet was sighted in the west half an hour after sunset and remained visible for up to three hours after sunset.
In the picture, the comet appears on the right side and on the left side is the planet Venus with the Milky Way galaxy appearing in the background.
Al Saadouni said that for the first time in 80,000 years, the rare comet Atlas appeared in the skies since October 11 enabling scientists to monitor it in the northern hemisphere. After a long journey that began thousands of years ago, comet Atlas recently passed close to the sun and is now on its way back to planet Earth. It can be observed with the naked eye in areas without light pollution.
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