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Credit & Copyright: Fritz
Helmut Hemmerich
Explanation:
This
timely, telescopic, two panel mosaic spans about 10 full moons
across planet Earth's predawn skies.
Recorded as the year began from Tenerife, Canary Islands,
near the top of the frame are the faint coma and tail of
Comet
Borrelly (P/19).
A comet with a seven year orbital period,
Borrelly's nucleus
was visited by the ion propelled spacecraft
Deep Space 1 near
the beginning of the 21st century.
Anchoring the scene at the bottom is brilliant star Arcturus
(Alpha Bootes) and
Comet
Catalina (C/2013 US10) a
first time visitor from the Oort Cloud.
Catalina's
yellowish dust tail extends below and right.
Buffeted by winds and storms from the Sun,
the comet's complex ion tail sweeps up and toward the right,
across most of the field of view.
Remarkably, one of the composition's 30 second exposure subframes
also caught the trail of a bright meteor, slashing toward the left
between comets and bright star.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: comet
Publications with words: comet
See also:
- APOD: 2024 April 17 Á Total Eclipse and Comets
- APOD: 2024 April 8 Á The Changing Ion Tail of Comet Pons Brooks
- Comet Pons-Brooks at Night
- APOD: 2024 March 18 Á Comet Pons Brooks Swirling Coma
- Comet 12P/Pons Brooks in Northern Spring
- Structure in the Tail of Comet 12P/Pons Brooks
- The Snows of Churyumov Gerasimenko