Comet Neowise Drops In As He Drops To His Knee In Cosmic Proposal

UTICA, NY — Chances like this don’t come around every day, every year or even every century. Six more millennia will pass before Comet Neowise visits our solar system again, so John Nicotera seized the opportunity for a cosmic proposal.

Nicotera had planned to propose to Erica Pendrak during a vacation this summer to Portland, Oregon. But the coronavirus pandemic hit, and the couple had to scuttle their plans to visit the Northwest.

Nicotera was “really bummed,” he told CNN.

He’d planned to propose to Pendrak at Crater Lake, known for its deep blue color and clear water.

“It was going to be awesome,” he told CNN.

Something more memorable was in the stars for the couple, both teachers in the area.

They made their way Saturday to Old Forge, New York, to a perfect spot on McCauley Mountain in the Adirondacks to see Comet Neowise, a rare comet that won’t return to our solar system for another 6,800 years.

Pendrak wasn’t taken aback by the outing. Nicotera is a self-described “space junkie” who had been following the comet.

The comet-watching adventure “really didn’t surprise me because he loves space and follows everything that’s going on,” Pendrak told news station WWLP.

What she didn’t know was that he had scouted out a perfect location with fellow teacher and photographer Tim Leach after he came up with “Plan B” for a proposal he wanted to be nothing short of stellar.

“This could be our engagement,” Nicotera thought to himself, according to the CNN report. “This is not going to happen in our lifetime or five generations’ lifetimes.”

Leach and his girlfriend tagged along as a fortuitous afterthought. When Nicotera realized he had forgotten his binoculars, he called Leach, who said the lens of his camera would be a good substitute.

Pendrak was still in the dark about what was going to happen. The comet was clearly visible, surrounded by a dazzling array of stars.

Nicotera dropped to one knee and asked Pendrak to be his wife. Leach clicked off photos to record the moment.

“I was completely shocked — tears and everything,” Pendrak told news station WKTV.

“I went out looking for a comet that night and came home with a fiancé — blew her mind away; she had no clue,” Nicotera added.

After Pendrak said “yes,” Leach perfectly positioned Comet Newise between the couple to stage out-of-this-world engagement photos.

"Tim froze time for us so we could live this moment forever," Nicotera told CNN. "I've never seen anything so beautiful."

Neither Nicotera nor Pendrak expected to become overnight social media celebrities.

Nicotera tweeted the photos, which were retweeted by astronaut Garrett Reisman.

“Well done,” he wrote. “Congratulations.”

Nicotera had tagged NASA and SpaceX in the tweet. The space agency, SpaceX founder Elon Musk and The Weather Channel were among the more than 1,400 retweets.

The chances to see Comet Neowise are waning. It will disappear from the nighttime sky this week.

RELATED: How To See Comet Neowise Before It Disappears For Another 6,800 Years