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Credit & Copyright: Tom Masterson
(Transient Astronomer)
Explanation:
What's that heading for the Pleiades star cluster?
It appears to be
Comet C/2016 R2 (PanSTARRS), but
here, appearances are deceiving.
On the right and far in the
background, the famous
Pleiades star cluster
is dominated by blue light from massive young stars.
On the left and visiting the inner Solar System is
Comet PanSTARRS, a tumbling block of ice from the outer
Solar System that currently sports a long
ion tail dominated by
blue light from an unusually high abundance of ionized
carbon monoxide.
Comet PanSTARRS is actually
moving toward the top of the
image, and its ion tail points away from the
Sun but is affected by a complex
solar wind of particles streaming out from the Sun.
Visible through a small telescope, the comet is fading as it recedes from the
Earth, even though it reaches its closest point to the Sun in early May.
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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 - pleiades
Publications with words: comet - pleiades
See also:
- APOD: 2024 June 4 Á Comet Pons Brooks Develops Opposing Tails
- APOD: 2024 April 17 Á Total Eclipse and Comets
- APOD: 2024 April 8 Á The Changing Ion Tail of Comet Pons Brooks
- Comet Pons-Brooks at Night
- APOD: 2024 March 18 Á Comet Pons Brooks Swirling Coma
- Comet 12P/Pons Brooks in Northern Spring
- Structure in the Tail of Comet 12P/Pons Brooks