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Wednesday, February 8,2023
dawsonnews.com I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I 3A
‘Green comet’ is making a rare pass by Earth
By Erica Jones
ejones@dawsonnews.com
A glowing green comet
zipped past Earth during its
elongated orbit around the sun
50,000 years ago. Now, it has
finished that orbit and is again
passing Earth, making it a once-
in-a-lifetime sight for stargaz
ers.
According to Francisco
Guzman Fulgencio, assistant
professor of physics and astron
omy at the University of North
Georgia, the C/2022 E3 (ZTF)
comet, nicknamed the “green
comet,” will be most visible this
week.
“Now it’s passing closest to
us just across the plain where
the Earth is moving and it’s
going away from us, but this
week is the best time to see it
with the naked eye,” Fulgencio
said. “In 4-5 days you will need
a telescope and in a few weeks
you’ll need big telescopes.”
Comets have an orbit that is
elongated, he said, so for most
of their orbit they’re far away
from the earth. This comet is
unique in that its orbit is so
elongated it hasn’t passed Earth
in 50,000 years.
“It passed 50,000 years ago
when there were Neanderthals
on the earth,” Fulgencio said.
“It’s very interesting because it
has such a big elongation.
Halley’s Comet, for compari
son, has about a 70-year elonga
tion.”
The comet gets its bright
green hue from its interaction
with the sun.
“The comet looks green
because the comet is a big
snowball, so when it gets close
to the sun there is a lot of UV
radiation from the sun and that
is breaking up the organic mole
cules,” Fulgencio said. “So
what you’re seeing is Carbon-2,
C2, which is excited by the UV
rays of light and emits green.”
The comet has both a long
faint ion tail and a short broad
dust tail coming off of it, which
is caused by this erosion of the
comet by the sun as it flies past.
“A comet is like a dirty snow
ball and the sun emits particles
that erode the comet,” Fulgencio
said. “The comet is going
around the sun and leaving a
trail of dust, so we can see the
trail of dust on its trajectory.”
The comet was most visible in
the evening of Feb. 1 and into
the early morning hours of Feb.
2, and will remain visible to the
naked eye through the first part
of this week before stargazers
will need a telescope or binocu
lars to spot it. It will stay visible
for the next few weeks with the
aid of a telescope.
“With your naked eye it’s just
on the limit of visibility, but you
probably can see a small spot in
the sky; with binoculars you
may see the tail,” Fulgencio said.
“It’s going to be visible the
whole night but probably better
during the early hours.”
UNG’s observatory, located at
3000 Dawsonville Highway in
Dahlonega, is open on Fridays,
weather permitting, from 8 p.m.
to midnight to allow the public
to view the comet and other
sights in the night sky through
the observatory’s telescopes.
Any updates on conservatory
hours and changes due to weath
er will be posted on social media
at www.facebook.com/
UNGObservatory.
More information about the
comet, including its current posi
tion in the sky, can be found
online through The Sky Five at
https://theskylive.com/where-is-
c2022e3.
Photo courtesy Dan Bartlett/NASA
ConnectAbility holds talent show of all levels, abilities
By Erica Jones
ejones@dawsonnews.com
Focal organization
ConnectAbility held its
annual Clifford Hudson
Memorial Talent Show at
the Dawson County High
School Performing Arts
Center on Saturday Feb. 4,
allowing performers of all
abilities the chance to take
the spotlight and showcase
their talents.
ConnectAbility Inc. is a
Dahlonega-based organi
zation dedicated to creat
ing a community for fami
lies affected by disabili
ties. ConnectAbility’s goal
is to create communities
where people of all abili
ties are valued, included
and empowered, and one
of the ways the organiza
tion accomplishes this goal
is through events like the
talent show, which allows
anyone of any ability the
chance to take the stage
and perform.
“Our talent show is just
an opportunity for us to
open up the stage to per
formers of all abilities who
have something unique
Erica Jones Dawson County News
Performers showcase their talents during ConnectAbility's annual Clifford
Hudson MemorialTalent Show on Feb. 4.
and fun to share, so we
have individual and group
acts and it just runs the
gamut,” ConnectAbility
Executive Director
Jacqueline Daniel said.
“Part of the mission of our
organization is we believe
that everybody has a gift to
share, and we just want to
provide a stage and an
opportunity for everybody
to share their gift.”
The talent show has
taken place every year for
over a decade, and several
years ago it was renamed
in memory of Clifford
Hudson, one of the show’s
participants who passed
away.
“Clifford Hudson was
one of our participants
who passed away several
years ago and he had a lot
of physical challenges, but
Photo submitted to DCN
Dawson Community Food Bank and Thrift Store
was recently gifted its own truck for transporting
donations throughout the area.
Food bank receives truck donation
By Julia Hansen
jhansen@dawsonnews.com
Thanks to local donors,
Dawson Community Food
Bank can now transport
grocery items and other
provisions more easily and
in larger quantities.
The nonprofit was given
its very own truck Monday,
Jan. 30, food bank director
Finda Benson said
Tuesday, Jan. 31.
“We’ve been praying for
a truck for a long time. We
had a trailer and a pickup
truck, and that’s what
we’ve been using for
years,” Benson said. “It’s
just amazing how God has
blessed us now, and we’re
just so thankful.”
The Dawson Community
Food Bank and Thrift Store
is located at 671 Fumpkin
Campground Road South,
Suite 30. The nonprofit
operates its food bank
Tuesdays, Thursdays and
Fridays from 1-5 p.m. and
Saturdays from 11 a.m. to
3 p.m.
For questions about the
food bank or thrift store,
you can call at (706) 265-
7990 or visit the nonprofit’s
new website is www.daw-
soncommunityfoodbank.
com.
People can make dona
tions through the nonprof
it’s “Donate” page on the
website. Funds from online
donations and thrift store
sales help the nonprofit
support its operations and
finance food and other
items for families in need.
Reach
Benson said that since
the move to the Fumpkin
Campground Road South
location, they’ve been able
to reach so many people.
In December 2022, the
nonprofit served 1,736
families or 5,031 individu
als 126,840 lbs. of food.
Just in the last week, the
food bank helped 486 fami
lies, and they expect to help
even more people by dis
tributing even more food
over the next month,
Benson added.
The food bank director
cited recent demand given
peoples’ struggles to afford
food staples like eggs and
other things like gas.
“They either eat or buy
gas for their car.. .it’s a ter
rible position to be in,”
Benson said. “I have lots of
stories where they (clients)
wrote to me that their cabi
nets were empty until they
found the food bank
because they couldn’t
afford to put anything in
them.”
She explained that the
nonprofit serves 900-plus
elderly Dawson-area resi-
when it was time for the
talent show he sang his
heart out,” Daniel said.
“He had a lot of communi
cation challenges too but
he loved to sing and just
the enthusiasm and the
heart that he put into his
singing was really inspira
tional to us. We had a tal
ent show when he was still
alive, but in memory of
him we just want to
remember the amazing tal
ents that he shared with
us.”
Rhonda Hudson
Roshau, Clifford’s mother,
was in attendance at the
talent show with the rest of
her family. She said that
seeing the show every year
is exciting for her, and that
seeing it renamed after her
son is especially special.
“The first talent show
that Clifford was involved
with, our family wasn’t
sure what he would do, but
he got up there and just
blew everybody away with
his singing,” she said. “It
was amazing; he got a
standing ovation and every
year after that he did it. I
am so glad that the talent
show has continued and
progressed this far to give
all of the entertainers a
chance to know that they
mean something and that
they can give their talents
to everybody because they
don’t typically get that
chance.”
In addition to the talent
show, ConnectAbility
holds several other events
throughout the year,
including a 5K, a photog
raphy exhibit and other
community-based events.
For more information
about the organization, go
to connectabilityinc.org.
dents.
“A lot of seniors, they are
just struggling because they
have a fixed income...
[especially] when the pric
es go up,” Benson said.
Focal congregations like
Bethel United Methodist
Church and the Soul Filling
Station have
contributed to the non
profit’s efforts, as have
management with North
Georgia Premium Outlets
through time spent volun
teering and donations of
holiday turkeys.
The food bank’s volun
teers usually give clients a
pre-arranged dry goods box
and let them choose items
like fresh fruit, desserts or
bottled drinks.
“Our volunteer base is
one of the most important
things that we have,”
Benson said, noting their
key roles sorting and dis
tributing the nonprofit’s
many donations. “There’s
so much that needs to be
done.”
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