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Credit & Copyright: Maroun Habib (Moophz)
Explanation:
There's a "camera" comet now moving across the sky.
Just a bit too dim to see with the unaided eye,
Comet 21P / Giacobini-Zinner has developed a
long tail
that makes it a good sight for binoculars and sensitive cameras.
The movement of the
Comet
21P on the sky was captured last week in the
featured time-lapse video
compressing 90 minutes into about 2.5 seconds.
What might seem odd is that the
21P's tail is not following the comet's movement.
This is because
comet tails always point away from the Sun, and
the comet was not moving toward
the Sun during the period photographed.
Visible far in the background on the upper left is the Salt & Pepper star cluster,
M37, while the bright red
star
V440 Auriga is visible just about the frame's center.
This 2-km ball of
dust-shedding
ice
passed its nearest to the Sun and Earth only last week
and is now fading as it
crosses into southern skies.
Comet 21P should remain visible, however, and photogenic to
stabilized cameras, for another month or so.
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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: 2025 January 13 Á Comet ATLAS Before Sunrise
- 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