Astronomy Picture of the Day 01-31-04

NASA ^ | 01-31-04 | Robert Nemiroff and Jerry Bonnell

[petuniasevan]

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2004 January 31

A Galaxy is not a Comet
Credit & Copyright: Juan Carlos Casado

Explanation: This gorgeous galaxy and comet portrait was recorded on April 5th, 2002, in the skies over the Oriental Pyrenees near Figueres, Spain. From a site above 1,100 meters, astrophotographer Juan Carlos Casado used a guided time exposure, fast film, and a telephoto lens to capture the predicted conjunction of the bright Comet Ikeya-Zhang (right) and the Andromeda Galaxy (left). This stunning celestial scene would also have been a rewarding one for the influential 18th century comet hunter Charles Messier. While Messier scanned French skies for comets, he carefully cataloged positions of things which were fuzzy and comet-like in appearance but did not move against the background stars and so were definitely not comets. The Andromeda Galaxy, also known as M31, is the 31st object in his famous not-a-comet catalog. Not-a-comet object number 110, a late addition to Messier's catalog, is one of Andromeda's small satellite galaxies, and can be seen here just below M31. Our modern understanding holds that the Andromeda galaxy is a large spiral galaxy some 2 million light-years distant. The photogenic Comet Ikeya-Zhang, then a lovely sight in early morning skies was about 80 million kilometers (4 light-minutes) from planet Earth.

[petuniasevan]

The Opportunity rover rolled off the lander platform this morning. See the LIVE THREAD

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Opportunity is near the center of a crater 72 feet in diameter and 10 feet deep. On Friday, scientists unveiled a three-dimensional model of the crater, created from information in stereo images. This is the first time a crater on another planet has been mapped from inside the crater.

[petuniasevan]

[Lokibob]

There are no new images from either Spirit or Opportunity since the 28th.

Spirit has been busy downloading engineering data in prep for a reboot of its computer.

Opportunity has been working on getting off its landing platform.

I have a feeling that by Monday, we will be swamped with pictures.

[Soaring Feather]

Thank You so much for the live thread link. While I was in bed I could at least follow the excitement of the moment by reading all the comments. :-)