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Credit & Copyright: Rolando Ligustri
(CARA Project,
CAST)
Explanation:
Sweeping slowly through the constellation Hercules,
Comet Garradd (C2009/P1) passed with about 0.5 degrees of
globular
star cluster M92 on February 3.
Captured here in its latest
Messier moment, the
steady performer remains just below naked-eye
visibility
with a central coma comparable in brightness to
the dense, well-known star cluster.
The rich telescopic view from New Mexico's,
early morning skies, also features Garradd's broad
fan shaped dust tail and a much narrower ion tail that
extends up and beyond the right edge of the frame.
Pushed out by the pressure of sunlight, the dust tail
tends to trail
the comet along its orbit while
the ion tail,
blown by the solar wind, streams away from the comet in
the direction opposite the Sun.
Of course, M92 is over 25,000 light-years away.
Comet Garradd is 12.5 light-minutes
from planet Earth, arcing above
the ecliptic plane.
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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: Messier catalog - comet - comet tail
Publications with words: Messier catalog - comet - comet tail
See also:
- APOD: 2024 April 17 Á Total Eclipse and Comets
- APOD: 2024 April 8 Á The Changing Ion Tail of Comet Pons Brooks
- Comet Pons-Brooks at Night
- APOD: 2024 March 26 Á Comet Pons Brooks Ion Tail
- APOD: 2024 March 18 Á Comet Pons Brooks Swirling Coma
- Comet 12P/Pons Brooks in Northern Spring
- Structure in the Tail of Comet 12P/Pons Brooks