Credit & Copyright: Fritz Helmut Hemmerich
Explanation:
Comet Catalina is ready for its close-up.
The giant snowball from the outer Solar System, known formally as
C/2013 US10 (Catalina),
rounded the Sun last month and is now
headed
for
its closest approach to Earth in January.
With the glow of the Moon now also out of the way,
morning observers in Earth's northern hemisphere are getting their best ever
view of the new comet.
And Comet Catalina is
not disappointing.
Although not as bright as early predictions, the comet is sporting both
dust (lower left) and
ion (upper right)
tails,
making it an impressive object for binoculars and long-exposure cameras.
The featured image was taken last week from the
Canary Islands, off the
northwest coast of
Africa.
Sky enthusiasts around the world will surely be
tracking
the comet over the next few months to see how it evolves.
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A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
