APOD: 2024 October 15 Á Animation: Comet Tsuchinshan ATLAS Tails Prediction
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Credit & Copyright: Nico Lefaudeux
Explanation:
How bright and strange will the tails of Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS become?
The comet has brightened dramatically
over the few weeks as it passed its closest to
the Sun and,
just three days ago, passed its closest to the Earth.
C/2023 A3 (TsuchinshanÁATLAS) became of the
brightest comets of the past century over the past few days,
but was unfortunately hard to see
because it was so nearly superposed on the Sun.
As
the comet
appears to move away from the Sun, it is becoming a
remarkable
sight -- but may soon begin to fade.
The featured animated video shows how the comet's tails have developed,
as viewed from Earth, and gives one prediction about how they might further develop.
As shown in the video, heavier parts of the
dust tail that trails the comet have begun to appear to
point in
nearly the opposite direction from lighter parts of the
dust tail as well as the comet's
ion tail,
the blue tail that is pushed directly out from the Sun by the
solar wind.
Growing Gallery:
Comet Tsuchinsan-ATLAS in 2024
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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