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Астронет: Астрономическая картинка дня Комета 45P пролетает около Земли http://variable-stars.ru/db/msg/1375823/eng |
Credit & Copyright: Fritz Helmut Hemmerich
Explanation:
A large snowball has just passed the Earth.
Known as Comet
45P/HondaMrkosPajduАkovА",
or 45P for short,
the comet came 10 times closer to Earth yesterday than the
Earth ever
gets to the
Sun.
During this passage, the comet
was
photographed sporting a thin ion tail and a faint but expansive green coma.
The green color is caused mostly by energized
molecules of carbon.
Comet 45P became just bright
enough to see with the
unaided eye when it came closest to the Sun in December.
Now, however,
the comet
is fading as it heads back out to near the orbit of
Jupiter, where it spends most of its time.
The kilometer-sized
nucleus of ice and dirt will return to the inner
Solar System in 2022.
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.