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Credit & Copyright: Wally Pacholka (Astropics)
Explanation:
Comet NEAT (Q4)
was quite photogenic earlier this month.
Although the head and part of the
tails of Comet C/2001 Q4 (NEAT) were
visible to the unaided eye, the best views of the
colorful tail were revealed only later by
cameras
able to expose for long periods.
A human eye can accumulate light for up to 1/10th of a second,
as opposed to the
above camera image,
which used an exposure of nine minutes on May 8.
Visible is a long blue
ion tail, a blue
coma surrounding the comet's
nucleus,
and a shorter but brighter sunlight reflecting
dust tail.
Q4 is dropping more from easy
visibility each day as it recedes from both the Earth and the Sun.
Another separate naked-eye comet,
Comet LINEAR (T7),
should remain bright into June.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
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 NEAT
Publications with words: Comet NEAT
See also: