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Credit & Copyright: Jan Erik Vallestad
Explanation:
A bright comet will be visible during next month's total solar eclipse.
This very
unusual coincidence occurs because
Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks's
return to the inner Solar System places it by chance only
25 degrees away from the Sun during Earth's
April 8 total solar eclipse.
Currently the comet
is just on the
edge of visibility
to the unaided eye,
best visible with binoculars in the early evening sky toward the
constellation
of the Fish
(Pisces).
Comet Pons-Brooks,
though, is putting on quite a show for deep camera images even now.
The featured image is a
composite of three very specific colors, showing the comet's ever-changing
ion tail in light blue, its outer
coma in green,
and highlights some red-glowing gas around the coma in a
spiral.
The spiral is thought to be caused by gas being expelled by the slowly
rotating nucleus of the giant iceberg comet.
Although it is always difficult to predict the future brightness of comets,
Comet Pons-Brook
has been particularly prone to
outbursts, making it even more difficult
to predict how bright it will actually be as the
Moon moves in front of the Sun on
April 8.
Total Eclipse Info:
2024 Total Solar Eclipse from NASA
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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