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Credit & Copyright: Petr Horalek /
Institute of Physics in Opava
Explanation:
Comet ATLAS is really bright now, but also really close to the Sun.
Outside the glow of the Sun,
Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) would be one of the more remarkable comet sights of
recent years, reflecting about as much sunlight to Earth as
Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS did in October,
and now
rivaling even planet
Venus.
But the giant snowball is now
so close to the Sun that it can only be seen through the
light of the early morning dawn or the early evening dusk.
Today, Comet ATLAS is at
perihelion -- its closest ever to the Sun.
Although the future brightness of comets is
notoriously hard to predict, there is hope that
Comet ATLAS will survive its close pass near the Sun and
remain bright
enough to be seen with the unaided eye over the next few days --
and possibly a good
camera comet for weeks.
The
featured image
was taken early yesterday morning near
Tornaäa,
Slovakia.
Tomorrow:
Zoom APOD Lecture
hosted by the Amateur Astronomers of Association of New York
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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 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
- 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