Daily Telescope: A brilliant shot of a comet as it nears the Sun
source link: https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/03/daily-telescope-a-brilliant-shot-of-a-comet-as-it-nears-the-sun/
Go to the source link to view the article. You can view the picture content, updated content and better typesetting reading experience. If the link is broken, please click the button below to view the snapshot at that time.
A streaker —
Daily Telescope: A brilliant shot of a comet as it nears the Sun
The comet should brighten further as it nears the Sun in the coming weeks.
Eric Berger - 3/7/2024, 1:00 PM
Good morning. It's March 7, and today's photo features a Halley-type comet that is currently approaching the Sun. It will reach perihelion on April 21.
The comet, named 12P/Pons–Brooks, features a brilliant ion tail, and its nucleus is estimated to be around 30 km in diameter. The comet should brighten further as it nears the Sun in the coming weeks. However, at an apparent magnitude of 4.5, it is unlikely to be visible to the naked eye—that's why we have telescopes.
12P/Pons–Brooks was imaged here by the Virtual Telescope Project facility in Manciano, Italy. The covered field of view is about 16×11 square degrees, and there is a bonus photobombing by the Andromeda Galaxy.
Source: Gianluca Masi
Do you want to submit a photo for the Daily Telescope? Reach out and say hello.
Recommend
About Joyk
Aggregate valuable and interesting links.
Joyk means Joy of geeK