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Credit & Copyright: D. McDavid and G. Dowdle,
Limber Observatory
Explanation:
Comets move against a field of background stars.
Their apparent motion is slow but
carefull tracking
reveals their orbits, allowing these
visitors to the inner solar system to be identified as
old or new acquaintances.
Recently a new comet, designated 1998 H1,
was discovered by observer Patrick L. Stonehouse
of Wolverine, Michigan, USA, and announced on April 26.
At 10th magnitude,
comet Stonehouse is too faint to be seen by the unaided eye,
but it is
presently a popular object for
telescope-equipped comet watchers.
This false color picture of comet Stonehouse was
taken on May 1st at Limber Observatory
and is a composite of 8 exposures each 60 seconds long.
The sequence of exposures was made with
the telescope following the background stars.
The individual pictures were then aligned on the comet and
added together.
Because of the comet's relative motion,
the combined multiple-exposure shows
trails of progressively offset
star images but nicely captures the comet's
coma and faint, tenuous tail.
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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