|
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.
|
January February March April May June July August September October November December |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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