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Credit & Copyright: Lin Zixuan
(Tsinghua U.)
Explanation:
What did Comet Lemmon look like when it was at its best?
One example is pictured here, featuring three celestial spectacles all at different distances.
The closest spectacle is the snowcapped
Meili Mountains, part of the
Himalayas in
China.
The middle
marvel is Comet Lemmon near its
picturesque best early this month,
showing not only a white
dust tail trailing off to the right but its blue solar wind-distorted
ion tail trailing off to the left.
Far in the distance on the left is the magnificent central plane of our
Milky Way Galaxy, featuring
dark dust,
red nebula, and including billions of
Sun-like stars.
Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) is already fading as it heads back into the outer Solar System, while the
Himalayan mountains will gradually
erode over the next billion years.
The Milky Way Galaxy,
though, will live on -- forming
new mountains and comets --
for many billions of years into the future.
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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: Milky Way
Publications with words: Milky Way
See also:
- APOD: 2025 July 2 Á Milky Way Through Otago Spires
- APOD: 2025 May 20 Á Milky Way over Maunakea
- APOD: 2025 May 13 Á Gaia Reconstructs a Top View of our Galaxy
- APOD: 2025 May 12 Á Gaia Reconstructs a Side View of our Galaxy
- Galaxies in Space
- APOD: 2025 February 9 Á Milky Way over the Australian Pinnacles
- APOD: 2024 November 24 Á Journey to the Center of the Galaxy