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Credit & Copyright: Tom Masterson
(Grand Mesa Observatory)
Explanation:
This
festively colored skyscape was captured in the early morning
hours of December 17, following
Comet Wirtanen's
closest approach to
planet Earth.
The comet was just visible to the eye.
The lovely green color of its fluorescing cometary atmosphere
or coma is brought out here only by adding digital exposures
registered on the comet's position below the Pleiades star cluster.
The exposures also bring out blue starlight reflected by the
dust clouds surrounding the young Pleiades stars.
Gaze (toward the left) across dusty dark nebulae along
the edge of the Perseus molecular cloud and you'll
travel to emission nebula
NGC 1499, also known as the California nebula.
Too faint
for the eye, the cosmic cloud's pronounced reddish glow
is from electrons recombining with ionized hydrogen atoms.
Around December 23rd, Comet Wirtanen should be easy to
find with binoculars
when it sweeps close to bright star Capella
in the northern winter constellation Auriga, the Charioteer.
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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 - California Nebula
Publications with words: comet - California Nebula
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