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Credit & Copyright: José J. Chambó
Explanation:
Now approaching
our fair planet this Comet PanSTARRS (C/2013 X1)
will come closest on June 21-22, a mere 5.3
light-minutes away.
By then its appearance
low in northern hemisphere predawn skies (high in the south),
will be affected by the light of a nearly Full Moon, though.
Still the comet's pretty green coma is about the apparent
size of the Full Moon in
this
telescopic portrait,
captured on June 12 from the southern hemisphere's Siding Spring Observatory.
The deep image
also follows a broad, whitish dust tail
up and toward the left in the frame, sweeping away from the Sun
and trailing behind the comet's orbit.
Buffeted by the solar wind, a fainter, narrow ion tail
extends horizontally toward the right.
On the left edge, the brightest star is bluish Iota Picis Austrini.
Shining at about fourth magnitude, that star is visible to
the unaided eye in the constellation of the
Southern Fish.
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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 February 5 Á Comet G3 ATLAS Setting over a Chilean Hill
- APOD: 2025 February 2 Á Comet G3 ATLAS Disintegrates
- APOD: 2025 January 28 Á Comet G3 ATLAS over Uruguay
- APOD: 2025 January 26 Á The Many Tails of Comet G3 ATLAS
- Comet G3 ATLAS: a Tail and a Telescope
- APOD: 2025 January 21 Á Comet ATLAS over Brasilia
- APOD: 2025 January 20 Á Comet ATLAS Rounds the Sun