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Credit & Copyright: Alessandro Falesiedi
Explanation:
Sweeping slowly through northern skies, the comet
PanSTARRS C/2012 K1
posed for this telescopic portrait on June 2nd in the constellation
Ursa Major.
Now in the inner solar system, the icy body
from
the Oort cloud sports two tails, a lighter broad dust tail and
crooked ion tail extending below and right.
The comet's condensed greenish coma makes a nice contrast with
the spiky yellowish background star above.
NGC
3319 appears at the upper left of the frame that spans almost
twice the apparent diameter of the full Moon.
The spiral galaxy is
about 47 million light-years away, far beyond the stars in
our own Milky Way.
In comparison, the comet was a mere 14 light-minutes from our
fair planet.
This comet PanSTARRS will slowly grow brighter in the
coming
months remaining a good target for telescopic comet watchers and
reaching perihelion, its closest approach to the Sun, while just
beyond Earth's orbit in late August.
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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
Publications with words: comet
See also:
- Comet 13P Olbers
- APOD: 2024 June 4 Á Comet Pons Brooks Develops Opposing Tails
- 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 18 Á Comet Pons Brooks Swirling Coma
- Comet 12P/Pons Brooks in Northern Spring