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Credit & Copyright: Kevin Parker
Explanation:
After
grazing the western horizon on northern summer evenings
Comet PanSTARRS (also known as C/2014 Q1)
climbed higher in southern winter skies.
A
visitor to the inner Solar System discovered in August 2014
by the prolific panSTARRS survey,
the comet was captured here on July 17.
Comet and colorful tails
were imaged from Home Observatory in Mackay, Queensland, Australia.
The field of view spans just over 1 degree.
Sweeping quickly across a the sky
this comet PanSTARRS
was closest to planet Earth about 2 days later.
Still, the faint stars of the constellation Cancer left short trails
in the telescopic image aligned to track the comet's rapid motion.
PanSTARRS' bluish ion tails stream away from the Sun, buffetted
by the solar wind.
Driven by
the pressure of sunlight, its more diffuse yellowish dust
tail is pushed outward and lags behind the comet's orbit.
A good
target for binoculars from southern latitudes,
in the next few days the comet will sweep through skies near
Venus, Jupiter, and bright star Regulus.
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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:
- 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