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Credit & Copyright: Tara Mostofi
Explanation:
They are both falling.
The water in
Yosemite Falls,
California,
USA,
is falling toward the Earth.
Comet ZTF is falling toward the
Sun.
This double cosmic cascade was captured late last month as fading
Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF)
had just passed its closest to planet Earth.
The orange star just over the falls is
Kochab.
With the exception of a brief encounter with a
black bear, the
featured image was a
well-planned composite of a moonlit-foreground
and long-duration background exposures -
all designed to reconstruct a deep version of an actual single sight.
Although Comet
ZTF is
now fading as it glides back to the outer
Solar System, its path is
determined by gravity
and so it can be considered to still be falling toward the Sun --
but backwards.
Comet ZTF Gallery:
Notable Submissions to APOD
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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