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A Daily News Service of the North Carolina Coastal Federation

‘Dirty snowball’ swings by Beaufort, Earth

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The faint tail of Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS pointing away from the setting sun is visible Sunday evening over Taylors Creek in Beaufort. NASA says the "dirty snowball's" appearance is "a once-in-80,000-years sight." The comet believed to be from the Oort Cloud at the edge of our Solar System was expected to swing close by at about 44 million miles from Earth -- its closest pass -- on Saturday. Discovered in 2023, it is named for both China’s Tsuchinshan, or Purple Mountain, Observatory and an Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System, or ATLAS, telescope in South Africa. Photo: Mark Hibbs

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The faint tail of Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS pointing away from the setting sun is visible Sunday evening over Taylors Creek in Beaufort. NASA says the “dirty snowball’s” appearance is “a once-in-80,000-years sight.” The comet believed to be from the Oort Cloud at the edge of our Solar System was expected to swing close by at about 44 million miles from Earth — its closest pass — on Saturday. Discovered in 2023, it is named for both China’s Tsuchinshan, or Purple Mountain, Observatory and an Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System, or ATLAS, telescope in South Africa. Photo: Mark Hibbs

About Mark Hibbs

Mark Hibbs became Coastal Review's editor in September 2016. He manages the CoastalReview.org website and coordinates news coverage. A native of coastal North Carolina, Mark joined the staff in 2015 after more than 20 years with the Carteret County News-Times. He has won numerous awards for his reporting from the North Carolina Press Association and others. Recognition for his work includes the 2021 Media and the Law Awards of Excellence sponsored by North Carolina Bar Association for a series of stories on private property rights versus the state’s coastal regulatory authority. He’s a graduate of the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

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North Carolina Press AssociationWinner of seven North Carolina Press Association awards in 2024.