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Credit & Copyright: Guillaume Blanchard
Explanation:
Comet Lovejoy (C/2011 W3)
survived its close encounter with the Sun
earlier this month,
taking its place
among wonders
of the southern skies just in time for Christmas.
Seen here before sunrise from Paranal Observatory in Chile,
the sungrazing comet's tails stretch far above the eastern horizon.
Spanning over 20 degrees they rise
alongside the plane of the our Milky Way galaxy.
A breathtaking spectacle in itself, Lovejoy performs on
this celestial stage
with southern stars and nebulae,
including the Large and Small
Magellanic clouds right of the
telescope dome, and the glow of
zodiacal light along the
left edge of the frame.
With Paranal's Very Large Telescope
units in the foreground, this
wide-angle scene was captured on December 23.
Receding from the Sun, Comet Lovejoy's tails have continued
to grow in length even as the comet fades.
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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 - Paranal Observatory - VLT - magellanic clouds - zodiacal light
Publications with words: comet - Paranal Observatory - VLT - magellanic clouds - zodiacal light
See also:
- APOD: 2024 December 16 Á A Kilometer High Cliff on Comet Churyumov Gerasimenko
- APOD: 2024 November 27 Á The Meteor and the Comet
- APOD: 2024 November 11 Á The Unusual Tails of Comet Tsuchinshan Atlas
- APOD: 2024 November 6 Á Comet Tsuchinshan Atlas over the Dolomites
- APOD: 2024 October 21 Á Comet Tsuchinshan ATLAS over California
- Comet Tsuchinshan ATLAS Flys Away
- Most of Comet Tsuchinshan ATLAS