Lately there seems to have been a lot more in the sky than the usual clouds, birds and airplanes.

A few days ago, newscasts were thrilled to announce that a green comet would be visible from Earth. Wednesday night it was photographed as it sped over Stonehenge for the first time. Discovered in 2022 by the Zwicky Transient Facility in California, the last time it made a pass near our planet Stonehenge did not exist even in the minds of its makers who may or may not have been aliens. The green comet only nears our planet every 50,000 years.

Thomas Schmidt, a professor of chemistry at the University of New South Wales, did some research into why the comet appears to be green. A comet is basically a ball of ice. As it approaches the sun, the ice melts into a gas that is known as a coma. Bombarded with rays from the sun, the gas transforms into unstable molecules called C2 that are easily excited. I doubt that you are easily excited about that, so I will cut to the chase. Eventually C2 releases some of its energy in a process known as fluorescence. That release causes the comet to turn green. So if you happen to be around for another 50,000 years you can explain why the comet is green.

News on the green comet was soon overshadowed by another object that appeared in our sky for the first time. Floating over our country was a purported spy balloon from China. It entered our air space near Montana and was tracked as it drifted across the country. Eventually it flew over South Carolina where it was met by our fighter jets and blown up. It was decided to wait until it was over the ocean but not yet in international waters. Rescue vessels were dispatched to retrieve the debris so that our intelligence network could determine what data it collected. China claimed it was a weather balloon that drifted off track. Although it followed the trajectory of the jet stream, it made slight maneuvers that altered that flight.

I wonder how we initially determined it came from China. Did it have a label that was discernable by telescopic instruments? Was it emanating a signal that translated in English that the balloon was the property of China?

If the Chinese government really wanted to hide its origin and mission, they could have taken simple steps to disguise their plans. For example, maybe they could have copied what we do when we buy inflated balloons for events. Would we have been so swift to destroy it if it had a message such as “Happy Birthday Laura” or “Call us if you spent time at Camp LeJeune.”? Since we are getting prepared for the Super Bowl maybe a red balloon that had a “Let’s Go Chiefs” message would have evaded our scrutiny.

ABC’s Good Morning America offered another reason for some to look in the sky. One of the show’s hosts, Robin Roberts, ventured to do a weeklong segment about New Zealand. It turns out that New Zealand is the epicenter of bungee jumping. As part of her report she planned on jumping from the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere, the SkyTower in Auckland. Riding an elevator 53 stories up, Robin was met with experts who fitted her with straps and a harness as preparation for the 630 foot freefall that awaited her. Unlike traditional bungee jumps where you leap head first with just your ankles attached to the cord, Robin jumped feet first and, at a speed of 52 miles an hour, safely landed in  the recovery area. 

So, it was quite a week for sky watching. For those of us who dealt with the historic arctic blast that enveloped a good part of the country, when the clouds cleared we were treated to a beautiful moon that lit up the sky. Fittingly, it was known as a “Full Snow Moon.”

Hudson Cooper is a resident of Sullivan County, a writer, comedian and actor.