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Credit & Copyright: Johannes Schedler
(Panther Observatory)
Explanation:
Now fading in our night sky, Comet Lulin
has provided some lovely
cosmic
vistas.
Moving rapidly against the
background of stars, Lulin briefly
posed with the likes
of Saturn, and
Regulus (Alpha Leo).
But here it is seen against a field of distant galaxies.
To reveal the faint
background galaxies and trace the
comet's fading tail,
the remarkable picture is a blended composite
of telescopic exposures aligned with the both the stars and
the
speedy comet.
The largest galaxies seen left of the comet's head
or coma are
cataloged as NGC 3016, NGC 3019, NGC 3020 and NGC 3024 and lie
at a distance of 100 million light-years or so.
When the exposures were made, on February 28,
the comet was about 3.6
light-minutes
from Earth.
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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: