PLETTENBERG BAY NEWS - Plett became the backdrop for an extremely rare and possibly never-to-be-repeated moment when a photographer inadvertently captured an image of a comet that passed earth more than 80 000 years ago.

Photographer Jared Greenstein, during an impromptu trip, captured an image of passing Comet Leonard while photographing Magellanic clouds and bioluminescence in the waves off Plettenberg Bay recently.

Greenstein originally thought the speck on the photograph was a mere smudge, but with the help of renowned astrophotographer Matt Dieterich, he identified it as Comet Leonard.

Comet Leonard, also known as Comet C/2021 A1, was identified just a year ago by Greg Leonard, an astronomer at Arizona's Catalina Sky Survey. It last passed earth 80 000 years ago.

While its flyby of earth is about 35 million kilometres, Comet Leonard came the closest it has ever been to Venus (scientifically speaking, a hair's breadth at 4,2 million kilometres).

The moment was also likely to be historic as the comet is not expected to pass this way again, its trajectory taking it out of our solar system and into deep space.

The backdrop of the comet on the photo was also special as the starscape was enhanced by bright shades of blue in the ocean's waves, called bioluminescence. 

Bioluminescence, also known as sea sparkle, is light emitted by organisms in the ocean; some marine creatures like squid, tiny crustaceans, algae, and some fish produce this light either to confuse predators, attract prey or lure in potential mates.

In Plettenberg Bay, bioluminescence is most often caused by a plankton bloom which results in the ocean glowing as the waves disturb the plankton.

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