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Credit & Copyright: Norbert Span
Explanation:
It isn't every night that a comet passes a galaxy.
Last Thursday, though, binocular comet
C/2018 Y1 (Iwamoto) moved nearly in front of a
spiral galaxy of approximately the same brightness:
NGC 2903.
Comet Iwamoto was discovered late last year and orbits
the Sun in a long
ellipse.
It last visited the inner Solar System during the
Middle Ages,
around the year 648.
The comet reached its closest point to the Sun -- between Earth and Mars --
on February 6, and its closest point to
Earth
a few days ago, on February 13.
The
featured time-lapse video condenses almost
three hours into about ten seconds, and was captured last week from
Switzerland.
At that time
Comet Iwamoto, sporting a
green coma, was about 10 light minutes distant,
while spiral galaxy
NGC 2903
remained about 30 million
light years away.
Two satellites zip diagonally through the field about a third of the way through
the video.
Typically,
a few comets each year become as bright as
Comet
Iwamoto.
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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 - spiral galaxy
Publications with words: comet - spiral galaxy
See also: