Comet Tails and Star Trails . ... Credit Copyright: Kevin Parker Explanation: After grazing the western horizon on northern summer evenings Comet PanSTARRS (also known as C/2014 Q1) climbed higher in southern winter skies. A visitor to the inner Solar System discovered in August 2014 by the prolific panSTARRS survey, the comet was captured here on July 17. ... Sweeping quickly across a the sky this comet PanSTARRS was closest to planet Earth about 2 days later. ... NASA Official: Jay Norris. ...