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Астронет: Астрономическая картинка дня Удивительная комета ISON http://variable-stars.ru/db/msg/1296534/eng |
Credit & Copyright: Babak Tafreshi
(TWAN)
Explanation:
After failing to appear for Sun staring spacecraft at perihelion,
its harrowing closest approach to the Sun,
sungrazing Comet ISON was presumed lost.
But ISON surprised
observers yesterday as material still traveling
along the comet's trajectory became visible and
even developed
an extensive fan-shaped dust tail.
Edited and processed to HD format, this video
(vimeo,
youtube)
is composed of frames from the
SOHO
spacecraft's coronographs.
It follows the comet in view of the
wide
(blue tint) and
narrow
(red tint) field cameras in the hours
both before and
after perihelion passage.
In both fields, overwhelming sunlight is blocked
by a central occulting disk.
A white circle indicates the Sun's positon and scale.
With questions
to be answered and the tantalizing possibility
that a small cometary nucleus has survived in
whole
or part,
surprising comet ISON will be rising before dawn in planet Earth's
skies in the coming days.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.